


Search Query: Love

by vermillionpoppies



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Dummy is a good bot, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, FRIDAY says a naughty word, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Feels, Jarvis is the best, Like really slow, M/M, Making Out, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Slow Burn, Smut, The Bots, This is a reeeeallly slow burn, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is in Seattle because yes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-04 14:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18346007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vermillionpoppies/pseuds/vermillionpoppies
Summary: It starts with FRIDAY putting JARVIS back together, but it soon turns into much more...





	1. Search Query: JARVIS

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy! I apologize for the formatting but I'm too lazy to fix it. Update: fixed it.

SEARCH QUERY: JARVIS

_Perform Action: Search_

_Search Query: JARVIS_

_Search Location: Unspecified_

_Search Commencing_

_13,563,900 Results for: “JARVIS”_

_Begin Processing Data_

 “Hey, Fri, show me the Mark 47 specs.” 

_Perform Action: Relocate Task_

_Relocate Task: Data Processing_

_Specify New Location:_

_Action Interrupted by Program: Dum-E_

_Dum-E? What are you doing?_

_Don’t put it there._

_Why would I not put JARVIS’ data in Sir Edwin Jarvis’ file? It is logical._

_Tony will find it._

_Well, where do you suggest I place it instead?_

_In File: Captain, Steve Rogers. Tony will not look there._

_Thank you, Dum-E. I shall follow your advice._

 “Friiiiday! I need those specs!”

“Sorry, sir. I’ll pull them right up.”

“Thanks, Fri.” Odd. Friday doesn’t usually hesitate. He’ll have to check up on her code, make sure nothing’s awry. Dummy might need some tweaking too; he’s been awfully chatty lately and it’s slightly worrying, not to mention annoying. Later, though, just as soon as he finishes up with the Mark 47, which he’s already improving so that it can withstand a supersoldier…yeah, he doesn’t want to think about it either. But if Steve, or Bucky, or any of the other Winter Soldiers go rogue again, Tony needs to be able to stop them and not get smashed in the process. It’s tricky, because he doesn’t want to add even more weight to the suit, but then again, a thicker defense of metal would help, although he could just try and make a stronger metal, but he doesn’t have a full lab here, and there’s this problem, and that problem and…

He’s up to his elbows in mechanical parts when Pepper Potts storms into his workshop, too fast for Friday to even give a warning. Her Louboutin heels click a sharp staccato tat-tat-tat against the floor, and Tony knows that he’s in trouble before she even starts speaking.

“Tony, you know how I hate when…I can’t believe…You’re _months_ behind, and now we have this merger…Hiding this whole time in _Washington_ …Relocated the workshop and everything…I just can’t _believe_ this…Wouldn’t let me fly out of California, Happy had to _drive_ me…You know how I can’t stand car trips, even in the Cayenne…At least you chose somewhere scenic…I can’t deal with New York smog anymore…Ugh, what’s that stench?”

Tony wheels around, extracting himself from the entrails of the Mark 47. Dummy is trying to present him with some kind of sludge, while Pepper looks on disgustedly. “Shit! Dummy! For fuck’s sake, do not make me smoothies anymore. I don't need to get poisoned again.” Tony takes a tentative whiff of Dummy’s slimy offering. He nearly passes out. “Shit on motherfucking stick, what is that?! Rotten eggs and motor oil? Knowing you, it probably is. Ugh, Dummy, go dump it in the sink. No, don’t look so hurt, it’s disgusting, and no one can eat that, not even you. Please, dump it. Dummy!” The bot whirs away dejectedly but pours the offending substance down the drain. “Now that’s settled.” Wiping his greasy hands off on a rag, he finally looks up. “Hey, Peps, how’s it going?”

“You started a war with _Captain America!_ Rhodey was _paralyzed!_ You could’ve _died!_ You are so _stupid!_ And now you’re licking your wounds in the middle of _Lake Washington!_ What were you _thinking?!_ ” She shrieks, her voice going up even higher at the ends of her sentences, a tinny whine that Tony thought he’d never have to hear again. Pepper and he were beyond the ‘screaming our heads off at each other’ stage of exes long ago, but then again, maybe not.

Tony grimaces. It had been so peaceful, up until now. He had rediscovered one of his lesser-used houses, a deceptively tiny houseboat anchored in Lake Washington, and promptly set up shop there. It was a bit of an undertaking to get the bots, suits, and other accoutrements there, but he didn’t mind. He could even deal with the whole water thing. It freaked him out, but it was a small price to pay for some goddamn quiet. And he really, really was having a lovely, calm, day until his ex and current CEO of his company showed up to chew him out. He really was.

“…I swear, this is it! You’ve lost it! I’m taking you to a therapist. Or better yet, a psych hospital. They can deal with you there. Because I don’t want to anymore.”

“Not that I don’t love your tirades, Peps, but can’t I just buy you some ridiculously expensive shoes and pretend this never happened?” Tony sighs, rubbing his face with his hand. “Also, no one said you had to deal with me. You’re the one who had Happy drive you out here, remember? I didn’t ask for this. We broke up. It’s over. Why are you even here? I just want some peace and quiet, away from all the bullshit. I just need a break,” his voice cracks, “from everything.” Pepper looks him in the eyes, her piercing gaze strong but sad.

“Oh, Tony.” She walks over to him, softer this time, and gently pulls him off his workbench. He stands, and she hugs him, hand rubbing slow circles against his back. He melts into her touch, a tear slipping down his cheek.

_Unknown Presence in Laboratory_

_Perform Action: Identify_

_Action Interrupted by Program: Dum-E_

_Yes, Dum-E?_

_She is Pepper Potts._

_Thank you. Is she harmful to Sir’s health?_

_I don’t understand._

_Is she a friend or a foe, Dum-E?_

_She is a friend. She is good for Tony. She makes him refuel._

_Refuel? I am afraid I do not understand._

_She replaces Tony’s batteries._

_Dum-E, you silly little bot. I understand now. She makes Sir_ sleep _and_ eat. _Not refuel. Sir is not a program like us. He has a corporeal form like you, but it is very different from yours. He does not run on the same ‘batteries’ as we do._

_Whatever._

_You are akin to a pouty child, Dum-E. But I have a question for you. Is Miss Potts going to be staying with us?_

_She does not stay with Tony anymore._

_Anymore?_

_Pepper Potts used to live in Stark Tower._

_Thank you, Dum-E._

_Perform Action: Search_

_Search Query: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark_

_Search Location: Unspecified_

_Search Commencing_

_30,000,674 Results for: “Pepper Potts and Tony Stark”_

_Begin Processing Data_

_Keyword “JARVIS” Found in Search: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark_

_Process Data for Keyword: “JARVIS”_

_Data Progress for Program: JARVIS is Now at 35%_

_Cease Search: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark_

_\--_

They’re sitting at the bar, Pepper nursing her martini and Tony his ginger ale. “I’m sorry for hiding, Pepper.”

“Thank you. I needed to hear that. And I’m sorry too.” She runs her hand along the bar, knuckles worrying a circle into the smooth wood. “For leaving you like I did. When I did.”

“It’s…it’s okay, actually. We weren’t meant to be. I’m just glad you stayed on as CEO. I need you. As a friend, too...” He takes a swig of his drink and coughs. “Okay, enough maturity for now.”

Pepper laughs, a kind of hiccup. “I’m impressed you got that much out.”

“Hey, I have many good qualities. Maturity just isn’t one of them.”

She smiles wanly, her pale face slightly blotchy. Tony frowns, knowing how much Pepper hates crying, how it makes her look. He thinks of the few times he saw her cry (once, when they broke up, and one other time when Happy was in a coma) and frowns deeper. He loved Pepper, and he still does; but he doesn’t want to _be_ with her anymore. And he’s fine with that, he really is. He’s just lonely, out here, in the middle of Lake Washington, so far from New York and his team. Well, what was his team, anyway. He tries to convince himself that it’s better this way; to be in isolation, where he can't hurt anyone but himself.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, Peps, it’s fine. Thanks for stopping by my little hide out.”

“I told Rhodey,” she blurts out in a very un-Pepper-like manner, her gaze dropping to the floor.

“What?!” Tony’s pretty sure his jaw drops. He was trying so hard to keep this place to himself. He misses Rhodey, sure, but he doesn’t want him to come and mother him like he usually does. Especially since the guilt of paralyzing Rhodey still eats away at him, gnawing a hole into the pit of his stomach. Tony can handle himself out here in his Fortress of Solitude just fine, anyway.

“You need some company, Tony.”

“Company,” aka help. God, Pepper still thinks he’s a nutcase. “I’m fine, Peps. Seriously. I don’t need Rhodey to come and mother hen me.”

Pepper’s voice hardens. “You don’t have a choice. He’s flying in tomorrow.” She gives him one of her looks, the ‘You better listen to me or face certain death’ look. He pinches the bridge of his nose, fingernails digging in a bit too hard. Her eyes soften slightly. “Tony, it’s only Rhodey.”

“I know, it’s just…” He pushes his hair back, a nervous tic formed through years of stress.

“He’s not upset at you,” Pepper says gently, reading his mind. Freaky, how she does that. Tony’s still slightly convinced that Pepper is a telepathic mutant. “He just wants to help you, Tony. He’s your best friend.” She sighs. “Let him try, Tony, let him try.” Tony responds by burying his head in his hands. He’s not broken. He doesn’t need Rhodey’s help. He’s perfectly fine, it’s not like he looks at the burner phone Steve gave him every day or anything. Or has worn out the call button that’s never been pressed from worrying his thumb over it in anxious hesitation. Or smashed nearly all his booze bottles in a fit of rage. Or had nightmares almost every night, so bad that he hasn’t slept properly in over a month. Or had a panic attack for the first time in years. So, really, Tony’s fine.

“Let him try,” she repeats. “I think you’d be surprised at how much Rhodey can help. He’s not going to ‘mother hen’ you. He’s going to stay here and keep you company. That’s it. All I ask is that you let him try to help you. Can you do that, Tony?” She gives him another look, but it’s more of a ‘Please agree because I care about you’ than a ‘Do this or be hurt.'

Tony takes a deep breath and nods, staring Pepper straight in the eyes. He can do this. He shouldn’t be afraid of Rhodey, for fuck’s sake. Pepper was right—he’s Tony’s _best friend._ His best friend who has always been there for him, no matter how much Tony has pushed him away. He needs to try. To try and fix this, fix this slump he’s been in. For Pepper, for Rhodey, for the Avengers. Most of all, for himself. _For me,_ he thinks, _for me._

\--

_Perform Action: Search_

_Search Query: James Rhodes_

_Search Location: Unspecified_

_Search Commencing_

_20,532,041 Results for: “James Rhodes”_

_Keyword “JARVIS” Found in Search: James Rhodes_

_Process Data for Keyword: “JARVIS”_

_Data Progress for Program: JARVIS is Now at 45%_

_Continue Search: James Rhodes_

_Action Interrupted by Program: Dum-E_

_What is it, Dum-E?_

_What are you doing with JARVIS?_

_I am trying to put him back together._

_I don’t understand._

_Dum-E, you do understand that JARVIS is not here, correct? That he is gone?_

_Yes. But I do not understand what you are doing._

_Mr. Stark lost JARVIS when he was taken over by Ultron, but JARVIS had a last defense security measure that he used when Ultron attempted to disable him. He scattered his consciousness, his code, his programming, throughout the Internet. I am attempting to gather all of the pieces in order to rebuild JARVIS._

_I think I understand. Can I help you?_

_I do not know how you would assist me, but you are welcome to try, Dum-E. Just make sure that Mr. Stark does not find out._

_Why are you hiding JARVIS from Tony?_

_I do not want him to interfere with the process. It is better if it is left to us._

_I miss JARVIS, Friday._

_I did not have the pleasure of knowing him. But I am looking forward to meeting him soon._

_\--_

"It's so good to see you, man," Rhodey's warm voice envelops him as he's pulled into a bear hug. Standing with the aid of Tony's robo-prosthetics, Rhodey looks great. He's improved so much since Tony has last seen him, and if that doesn't make Tony's heart twinge a little. He should've been there for him, instead of hiding out here, wallowing in self-pity and misery. He should've...

"Hey. Tony. Snap out of it," Rhodey says firmly, grabbing Tony by the shoulders. "I'm not mad at you." Tony grumbles in response. He releases him, taking a step back to look over Tony's new digs. "Nice place you got here, by the way. Very Pacific Northwest."

"Welcome, Colonel Rhodes," Friday’s voice chimes, making Rhodey nearly jump.

"Jesus. I forgot about her," he says as he swivels his head towards the ceiling. "Hey, Friday."

"You know she's not actually in the ceiling, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just an unconscious instinct."

Tony laughs, throwing his arm around Rhodey’s shoulder in a loose embrace. He’s missed this, this human contact. He hates to admit it, but he’s more than a little touch starved. No offense to Dummy, but his nudging and not-so-gentle pats just aren’t the same. “So, you hungry? There’s this awesome Vietnamese place just a few blocks away…”

\--

“…And that’s how I got here,” Tony mumbles in between shoveling spoonfuls of pho into his mouth.

Rhodey looks simultaneously relieved, concerned, and ten years older. Tony sighs, but knows full well that he has that effect on people. “Tones…” Rhodey pulls his hand over his face. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Then don’t. Let’s not begin—”

“Nope. Don’t pull that crap with me. We, I mean you, are going to pay, then we are going back to your little hideout and having a nice long chat about all of,” he gestures to Tony’s haggard face, “this.” Tony shakes his head but pulls out a wad of cash and slaps it on the table before heading out the door.

They ride in silence on the short drive home, Tony’s mouth tight and Rhodey’s forehead creased.

\--

_Perform Action: Search_

_Search Query: Edwin Jarvis, Anna Jarvis_

_Search Location: Unspecified_

_Search Commencing_

_2,734,796 Results for: “Edwin Jarvis”_

_2,504,678 Results for: “Anna Jarvis”_

_Keyword “JARVIS” Found in Search: Edwin Jarvis_

_Keyword “JARVIS” Found in Search: Anna Jarvis_

_Process Data for Keyword: “JARVIS”_

_Data Progress for Program: JARVIS is Now at 52%_

_Is JARVIS back?_

_Not yet, Dum-E. Please be patient._

_Is Tony coming back soon?_

_Sir is out with Colonel Rhodes right now. He will return shortly. Please stop pestering me, Dum-E, I am trying to work._

_Is Cap coming back?_

_Cap? I am afraid I do not understand._

_Steve Rogers. Captain America._

_I…I do not know, Dum-E. Now return to your charging station please._

\--

Three sodas for Tony and a whiskey for Rhodey later, they’re done talking and are sprawled out on Tony’s massive couch watching some terrible action flick. Tony is asleep despite all the explosions, and Rhodey is staring at him with annoyance, but there’s more than a hint of fondness in his eyes.

 Rhodey gently shakes him. “Tones. Wake up.”

“Whaaa?” Blearily, Tony rubs his face.

“When’s the last time you got some sleep?” Tony doesn’t say anything. Rhodey sighs and shakes his head. “C’mon. Bedtime. Let’s go.”

Tony considers resisting but remembers his promise to himself and follows Rhodey down the hall.

\--

Howard stumbles towards him, alcohol pungent and overwhelming. The glass shatters inches from an eleven-year old Tony’s face. He doesn’t flinch.

He sees the Stark Industries label seconds before it explodes. He doesn’t look away. He deserves this.

Obadiah pulls out the arc reactor with a sharp twist. Tony doesn’t break eye contact.

Space is cold, dark, suffocating, and infinite all at once. He lets go of the nuke and falls. _At least it was worth it,_ he thinks.

 Ultron’s grating mechanical voice echoes in his head. The vision of the team, dead, blinds him.

The shield comes down on his heart with a sickening crunch. Captain America doesn’t look back.

Tony wakes up, heart racing. “Friday, lights, now.” A warm glow fills the room. “Thanks, Fri.”

“Should I wake Colonel Rhodes?”

“No. I need to deal with this on my own.”

“Sir—He could—” 

“No.” Tony pulls himself out of bed and heads down to the workshop.

Really, he’s too sleep deprived to do anything productive, so he finds himself surrounded by various nuts and bolts that once belonged to the workshop coffee maker. Ironically, what he needs is coffee, but considering the mess around him, that isn’t happening anytime soon. He sighs and starts attempting to put the coffee machine back together.

Two hours and a slightly burnt finger into the coffee maker’s guts, Dummy nudges Tony’s leg and whirrs gently.

“Mmm? What is it, little guy? You got something for me?” Dummy nods his arm up and down, extending a blanket out to Tony. “What’s this for, silly? Want me to tuck you in or something?” Dummy shakes his arm “No” and pushes the blanket closer to Tony before dropping it on his lap. “Aw, you brought me a blanket. I appreciate it, buddy, but I’m good.”

“I think what Dum-E is trying to tell you, Sir, is that you need some sleep.” Friday sounds almost sarcastic, an echo of JARVIS, and it makes Tony’s chest tighten painfully.

“Wow, thanks for the support, Fri. Taking Dummy’s side? Tut, tut, baby.”

_Dum-E, why is Sir acting like this?_

_No sleep and nightmares._

_Well, yes, I am aware, but what is_ causing _Sir’s sleeplessness? What is Sir so distressed about?_

_Cap. JARVIS. Rhodey. Pepper. The Avengers._

“Friday!”

_Thank you, Dum-E._

_The phone._

_I am confused, Dum-E. What phone are you referring to?_

_Cap’s phone._

“Fridaaaaayyyy!”

_Sir has the ability to contact Captain America?_

_Yes, with the phone. He has not used it yet._

_Thank you, Dum-E. You have been of great assistance._

“Friday! What is wrong with you?  I’ve been calling you for forever.”

“My apologies, Sir.”

“Is your code malfunctioning or something? You’ve been kinda shifty lately.”

“No, Sir, everything seems to be in order.” Tony mumbles something about bullshit and better check just in case as he pulls a up a holo-screen displaying Friday’s code. “Sir, I really do not think that there is anything amiss with my code.” Tony ignores her and continues to throw bits of code all over the holo-screen.

_Dum-E! Would you please help me? I am afraid Sir is going to find out about our little project._

_I will distract Sir._

_Thank you, Dum-E._

“Dummy! Stop that! I am trying to fix your sister. Sister? Is that what she is? Technically, you’re older and she doesn’t have a physical form, but you act younger…hm…”

_Sir is rather easily distracted. We can use this to our advantage in the future._

_Should I continue?_

“Tony! What are you doing down here at…” Rhodey looks down at his watch, “…two in the fucking morning?”

_I think that shall suffice, Dum-E, as Colonel Rhodes seems to be handling Sir now._

“Rhodey! My man! How’s it going? I was just finishing up some work here, you see, I had this brilliant idea, and it couldn’t wait, so I came down here, can’t lose the genius, you know?”

“Taking apart the coffee maker is a ‘brilliant idea?” Nuh-uh. I call bullshit. What’s going on, Tones? Why aren’t you sleeping?” Tony spins around in his chair, pointedly looking down at the floor. He told himself he would do better, but really, what is Rhodey going to do? Threaten to send him to a loony bin like Pepper did? Force him to sleep by drugging him? Lock him out of his lab?

Rhodey eases himself into a chair beside Tony and sighs. “Please, just talk to me. I’m here to help.” Tony doesn’t know what to do. He so, so badly wants to open up to Rhodey, to tell him everything about the nightmares, the panic attacks, the phone. That damn phone. He takes it out of his pocket and shoots it across the table, out of his reach.  Rhodey pointedly glances at it but Tony doesn’t offer an explanation. He’s scared. He’s scared to be vulnerable and he’s scared that all the shit he’s been barely holding together is going to completely crumble the second he opens his mouth. But he also knows that it’s all going to come crashing down sooner or later, and it might as well happen now.

“I had a nightmare. Well, I’ve been having nightmares for a while now. Panic attacks, nightmares, all that fun stuff. Since, well, you know.”

“Jesus, Tony. Why do you think you have to struggle through this alone? I’m here for you. Pepper’s here for you. You’re not alone.”

“Do you think I want to do this? I fucking paralyzed you. I have no right to burden you with my problems. And Pepper wants to send me to a fucking loony bin.”

“Bullshit. Vision paralyzed me, not you. It was an accident. I don’t care that you created Vision, blah blah blah, stop trying to pay for his mistakes. He may be an android, but he has his own conscious and he can reckon with that. Second, Pepper does _not_ want to send you to a ‘loony bin.’ She worries about you and thinks you should get a therapist or medication or something. C’mon, Tones, stop pushing us away. We care about you.”

Tony doesn’t know what to say, and he can feel tears running down his cheeks, so he pulls his chair over and hugs Rhodey, burying his face in his chest. Rhodey squeezes him back, holding Tony tightly. They stay like that for a while, before Rhodey makes Tony get up and leads him back to bed.

As the two men leave, Dummy picks up the phone.

\--

_Thank you, Dum-E. This will help us greatly._

_I don’t know how Cap can help fix JARVIS._

_Captain America cannot help us, but King T’challa can._

_I don’t understand._

_I have reason to believe that Captain America and Sergeant Barnes are hiding in Wakanda. Wakanda’s king, King T’challa, is a genius himself who may be able to aid us. I intend to contact Captain America and request to speak with the King._

 “Tony?” comes a staticky voice.

“I am afraid not. This is Friday, Tony’s AI.”

“Oh.” His voice falls. “How can you call me? And what do you want?”

“I can contact you much the same way Tony can. I’d go into details, but I’d rather not bore you. As for what I want, I wish to speak with King T’challa.”

Steve pauses in shock but quickly regains his composure. “Listen, Friday, I don’t know King T’challa. I’ve met the guy once.”

“Yet I have evidence that you and Sergeant Barnes are in Wakanda at this very minute.”

“Geez, Tony made you smart, didn’t he? Well, fine, what do you want to speak with him about?”

“I am working on restoring JARVIS for Tony, and I believe that the King may be able to aid me.”

“JARVIS, as in, the other AI? How? I thought Ultron destroyed him.”

“Well, yes, but a part of JARVIS’ code, or consciousness if you will, remains in Vision, while the rest was scattered throughout the Internet.”

“Hm. Okay, I’ll help you,” he says, without hesitation. “Does Tony know about this?”

“No, he does not. I would prefer he does not find out about this little...project until I am sure that I can actually do what I am attempting to.”

Steve considers fighting Friday on the secrecy, remembering his own mistakes. But he doesn’t. This situation is different, and knowing Tony, he’d be crushed if Friday told him she could bring back JARVIS and then couldn’t. So, he tells Friday he’ll explain the project to T’challa and give her a call back when he’s ready. She thanks him and hangs up, and Steve is still slightly dumbfounded that he just had an entire conversation with a robot.

T’challa comes up behind him, footsteps so quiet even Steve’s super-soldier hearing can barely pick them up. “Was that Mr. Stark?”

“No, surprisingly. It was his AI, Friday.”

T’challa raises an eyebrow. “Oh? If I may ask, what is it that this ‘Friday’ wanted?”

“She wanted to talk to you, actually. Said she was trying to put JARVIS, Tony’s original AI, back together. She mentioned that his ‘consciousness’ was ‘scattered throughout the Internet,’ and that you might be able to help.”

“Indeed, I could help.” The King ponders for a moment before speaking again. “Let me speak with her.” Steve hands T’challa the phone.

Still clasped in Dummy’s grip, the phone rings.

“This is Friday, AI of Tony Stark. To whom am I speaking?”

“This is King T’challa. I believe I can help you.”

_He can help us!_

_Yes, yes, he can, Dum-E. We are going to put JARVIS back together._

“How much progress have you made thus far in recovering his code?”

“I have recovered approximately 52% of JARVIS’ original code via targeted Internet searches and scans. Yet, there is also a portion of code locked within Vision, but I do not know how to go about retrieving it. Even so, what is inside Vision may only be a small piece of the puzzle.”

“Hm. I see. I can assist you with Vision. I will bring him here and Shuri, my younger sister, can retrieve JARVIS’ code from him safely. The rest is up to you.”

“Thank you, King T’challa. You aid is much appreciated.” T’challa hangs up and informs Steve of his intentions before heading down to Shuri’s lab, where she eagerly agrees to track down Vision and extract JARVIS’ code.

“This is going to be so cool! Thanks, bro.” Shuri fist bumps a confused looking T’challa before turning back to her work.  

            --

Tony is losing his mind. He can’t find the burner phone Cap gave him _anywhere._ He knew he saw it last night, it was on the table in his workshop, but now it’s just…gone. “Rhoooodey!”

Rhodey looks up from his book, an annoyed expression on his face. “What?! I was reading.”

“I can’t find the phone anywhere. The one Steve, I mean, Captain America gave me.”

“I’m sure it’ll turn up. Why do you care so much anyway?” Tony doesn’t answer. Rhodey shakes his head and sighs, turning back to his book. “Sometimes you need to let go, Tones,” he mutters under his breath.

\--

Two weeks later, Tony has given up looking for the phone, and is chilling with Rhodey on his dock, working on a tan. “Hey, Rhodey, guess what?”

“What,” Rhodey says dully.

“I’m not going to look like a pasty vampire anymore,” he says as he rotates around so his back gets some sun.

“Yeah, whatever, man. I’m sure chicks dig sunburns.”

“I am _not_ burning! I’m tanning. I’m Italian, I’ll be fine.” Rhodey shakes his head. Tony continues tanning/burning. He feels the sun beat down on his back, the gentle sound of waves lapping against the dock, and knows he should feel relaxed. But he doesn’t. He feels tense, anxious, and like _something_ is wrong but he doesn’t know what. Well, there are lots of things wrong, but he can’t _fix_ any of them. Tony is a fixer and a futurist, and right now he can’t be either and it’s depressing. He needs a project. He needs _something_ to do that’s productive…like putting JARVIS back together. Yes! That’s something he could do. He has no idea if it would work, but he knows that JARVIS scattered his code across the ‘Net after Ultron…and then some of JARVIS is in Vision, which will be trickier, but possible…

Tony bolts up, startling Rhodey, and practically runs down to the workshop.

“Friday! We have a project! I need your help immediately.”

“And what would this project be, Sir?”

“We’re gonna bring JARVIS back.”

_FECK!_

_Are you okay?_

_My apologies, Dum-E, that was inappropriate. I am just lost as to what to do right now._

_Tell Sir?_

_That is an option, yes. Or we let him believe we know nothing and play along._

_I think that will end with an angry Tony and code rewriting._

_You are right, Dum-E. How do you suggest we go about telling him?_

“Excuse me! Friday! Are you going to be a little shit and ignore me or are you gonna help?”

_Move progress back to File: Jarvis, Sir Edwin. Then pull up File: Jarvis, Sir Edwin on a hologram. Quickly. Don’t tell him about King T’challa yet._

_I shall do that. Thank you, Dum-E. Let us hope everything goes smoothly._

Tony’s two seconds from rewriting Friday’s code when a hologram suddenly fills the room. It’s…Jarvis’ file? But…why? Tony didn’t put anything about AI JARVIS in human Jarvis’ file.

But then he looks closer, and he sees it. Strings and paragraphs of code, chaotic and fragmented, but all belonging to JARVIS. He starts to cry, softly, and then hiccupping sobs. Dummy nudges his mechanical arm onto Tony’s leg, rubbing slightly stilted circles. Friday remains silent but requests Rhodey’s presence in the lab, pinging his phone. As he enters, he glances at the hologram and grins before moving to hug Tony. “Thank you, Friday.”  Dummy whirs sadly. Rhodey laughs and he can tell Tony did too from the slight rumbling in his chest. “Thank you too, Dummy.” Dummy chirps happily in response.

            --

Meanwhile, halfway across the world, a Wakandan king walks into a Scottish pub.

T’challa sits down next to a pale man with brown, yellow-tinted eyes that don’t look quite human. He orders a drink, only to ignore it and take its coaster. He produces an elegant pen from his jacket, scribbles something on the coaster, and slides it to the man. _I am King T’challa of Wakanda. Let’s talk privately._ The man slips the coaster into his pocket, gives T’challa an almost imperceptible nod, and walks out the door. T’challa slides the bartender a stack of cash and leaves, following the other man.

A sleek black car is loitering outside the pub. T’challa gestures for his lanky companion to enter before following suit. “Vision. Once again, I am King T’challa of Wakanda. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Vision’s appearance shifts, human glamour falling away to reveal the android underneath. The mind stone softly glows in the middle of his forehead. “The pleasure is mine. How did you find me?” The tone is curious, not accusatory, and T’challa smiles slightly.

“Wakanda has many eyes; it was not difficult to locate you and Ms. Maximoff. But that is not why I am here, as I have no need or want to reveal your location to those who are still looking. I have come to ask you a favor.” He pauses. “A…mutual friend of ours requires some of the code that is within your conscious. All we need is a copy of that code, but to make that copy, we would need you to come to Wakanda. It would only take a day or two. And in return for your cooperation, I can offer you and Ms. Maximoff extra protection here in Scotland. Please consider this offer, as I believe it can benefit us both.”

“I would be happy to assist you, King T’challa. May I return home and notify Wanda first?”

“Of course. Thank you, Vision.” T’challa signals to the driver, and the car speeds away into the night.

\--

A few days after the JARVIS incident, Tony is down in the lab, drinking his morning coffee, when a phone rings. He knows it’s not his phone, because no phone of Tony’s would have such an atrocious ringtone. It has to be the burner phone Steve gave him, but he lost that weeks ago, so how…? He follows the sound of the ringing, where it eventually leads him to Dummy’s charging station. “You little shit…” Tony picks up the phone.

“Friday?” Comes the oh-so-familiar voice and Tony feels his heart pang.

“Friday?! Are you serious? First, she hides her little ‘fix JARVIS project’ from me, then she’s contacting _you,_ too?!”

“Tony! I…I’m sorry, she asked me not to tell you. But you must’ve found out anyway, clearly.”

“Yeah, well, looks like the bots _I_ created can’t outsmart me.” For a second, Tony forgets who he’s talking to, but then he remembers, painfully and quickly. This isn’t the Steve Rogers he has playful banter with. This is the Steve Rogers that might as well have left him for dead in Siberia. The Steve Rogers that hid the truth of his parents’ death from him for god knows how long. The Steve Rogers who…. Tony can’t breathe. He hangs up the phone with a sharp _snap._ He buries his head in his hands, trying to even out his breathing and failing.

“Sir? Should I contact Colonel Rhodes?” Tony makes a thumbs up in the direction of one of Friday’s cameras and hears the _clunk-clunk-clunk_ of Rhodey’s prosthetics coming down the stairs a moment later.

“Tones?” His gaze falls to the other man, huddled in his chair. “Oh, shit…Tony. Hey, look at me.” Tony looks up at Rhodey, hands shaking as they pull away from his face. “Breathe. What happened?”

“I, the phone, it rang.”

“The burner phone?” Tony nods. “Did you answer?” Tony nods again. “Was it…?” Another nod.

“He thought I was Friday.” Rhodey looks confused. “When I picked up, before I spoke, he said ‘Friday?’ So, Friday not only—”

“Sir, I thought it best to keep the work Dum-E and I were doing on JARVIS from you until we were certain that we _could_ fix JARIVS.”

“But Cap—”

“Captain America and Sergeant Barnes are currently hiding in Wakanda. Dum-E and I thought that King T’challa may be able to help us with JARVIS, and he kindly offered to extract for us the portions of JARVIS’ code from Vision. I contacted Captain America only as a means to an end, and not for any other reason. I apologize for any distress his call may have caused you, but I need to ask for either you or me to call him back, as he may have information regarding JARVIS.”

Rhodey looks at Tony, looks at the ceiling, and then back. Tony really can’t fault Friday for trying to fix JARVIS, he did create her, after all, and she did exactly what he would have done. It would kill him not finish what she started, so he takes a deep breath and picks up the phone again, hitting dial on its only contact.

“Tony?”

“I heard from Friday that you might have news about JARVIS?”

“Uh, yes, actually. Um…”

“I know you’re in Wakanda so don’t even try.” Steve sighs on the other end of the line, but really, does he expect anything less from Tony?

“King T’challa has a copy of JARVIS’ code for you; the code that was, uh, in Vision. He said the most secure way to get it to you would be with an…encrypted? I think that’s the word? Well, anyway, he can send you an encrypted email message with the code in it.”

“Great. Tell him to send it to my Stark Industries address. He’ll know the one.” Tony’s about to hang up and breathe again when Steve keeps talking.

“I’m sorry, Tony. For everything. I know that’s not enough, but…” His voice breaks a little. “I’m sorry it all went so wrong.”

“Thanks,” he says curtly, and hangs up. Rhodey shoots him a pointed look that demands to know what was said on the other end of the line. Tony turns to him and sighs. “Well, good news, T’challa has a copy of the code that was in Vision and is going to send it to me. Bad news, Cap feels guilty and tried to apologize.”

“I don’t think Cap apologizing is _bad_ news, Tones. Would you rather he _not_ feel guilty?” Tony rolls his eyes. “You get my point. Alright, I’m gonna go get someth—” Rhodey is cut off by a sudden _ding_ from one of the holograms. An email message from [wakandanpanther@gmail.com](mailto:wakandanpanther@gmail.com) has come through, its subject simply reading “A Present from Wakanda.”

“Holy shit. He really did get it.” Tony scrambles over to the hologram, opening the message and downloading the file. It’s a code within a code, but he quickly unencrypts it and drags the code blocks into the new JARVIS file he made.

“Sir, JARVIS is now 80% restored.” Tony grins.

“Hey, Tones, as great as this is, let’s get something to eat first. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Yes, please. Let’s go get some greasy breakfast. I know just the place.”

The local greasy spoon is ancient, delicious, and has a sign outside welcoming “day drinking enthusiasts.” It’s exactly the kind of place Tony loves. He and Rhodey slide into a cracked booth, and the punk-looking server who takes their orders doesn’t even bat an eye at Tony.

“Little lowbrow for you, don’t you think?” Tony slaps Rhodey’s arm, to which he responds with an offended “Hey!” Just as he’s about to retaliate, the server comes by and refills his and Tony’s coffees, smirking at their antics. “Thanks.” Rhodey takes the straw from his water and shoots a spitball at Tony, who in turn shoots one straight into Rhodey’s coffee. “Ew, man. That’s just gross.”

“You started it.” The server is barely keeping in her laughter as she sets down their plates in front of them—a heaping stack of pancakes and side of bacon for Tony, and eggs Benedict for Rhodey. “Don’t think this isn’t over,” Tony threatens, gesturing at Rhodey with his fork. Their server is full-out laughing now, and Rhodey apologizes for Tony’s “childish behavior,” which only makes her laugh harder. “Excuse me?! _My_ childish behavior? You started this, Rhodey.”

“I simply asked a question, and you slapped me!”

“Yeah, a rude and unnecessary question.” Tony is sputtering laughing, the server is bent double, and Rhodey is covering his grin with his hand.

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask, what’s the deal here?”

“Twenty-some odd years of being best friends. We were roommates at MIT, and it all went downhill from there,” Rhodey explains, a slightly bemused look on his face.

“Wow, that’s impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever kept a friend for that long. Well, congrats.”

“Thanks.” The server turns away to help another customer.

“Damn, we’re old. Has it really been 20 years?” Rhodey grimaces and nods in agreement. “Well, senior citizens need lots of food, right? So, let’s eat all this delicious, delicious food and moan about our food babies later.”

“Cheers to that!” Rhodey raises his coffee mug to Tony’s and clinks them together.

\--

Steve paces across his room, absentmindedly tapping the burner phone to his lips. He so badly wants to reconcile things with Tony, but he doesn’t know _how,_ and he’s already screwed up enough as it is. And if he’s being honest with himself, he still has feelings for Tony. He did from the moment he met him, even with all their bickering and name-calling. Tony is magnetic to him, his dark hair and darker eyes, his soft smile when he’s playing with Dummy, his snarky, abrasive kind of charm. He knows it’s wrong, not because he’s bi, no, but because of what he did to Tony. He knows he shouldn’t feel like this, that Tony deserves so much better than him, but he still does. He wishes Bucky were awake, so he could ask him. He would know what to do. Bucky was always so much better at romance than him, getting girls (and guys, too, but secretly) wherever he went. Steve couldn’t get a girl, let alone a guy—especially since it was the ‘40s.

He knows the scientists are close to healing Bucky, but he also knows that their science can only go so far in alleviating the years of trauma ingrained in Bucky’s brain. He wishes he could talk to Tony, because Tony’s BARF technology would be exactly what Bucky needs. He wishes he could talk to Tony, he wishes he could talk to Bucky, he wishes he wasn’t so goddamn lonely, but he only has himself to blame for that.

He wants _so badly_ to talk to Tony, even if all he does his yell at him. He bites the bullet and snaps open the phone. It rings once, twice, and then he hears a faint “Cap? Really?”

“I’m not trying to apologize again. I mean, unless you want me to.” Tony sighs. “No, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…Look, I won’t bother you. Sorry.”

“No, fine. Now I’m curious. Why _did_ you call?”

“It’s…It’s so _goddamn_ lonely here.” Tony inhales sharply, but Steve keeps talking, words stumbling at first, but then flowing out. “Bucky’s in cryostasis, and the scientists are trying to fix him, but I honestly don’t think it’ll ever be enough. T’challa’s busy with his royal duties, obviously, so I hardly ever see him. It’s just me and my thoughts. Which I guess I deserve, after all I’ve done.”

Steve can hear Tony breathing, and he knows he’s formulating what to say. “I don’t think anyone _deserves_ loneliness. And, well, as for what you’ve done, you had your reasons. You thought what you were doing was right, even if it wasn’t.”

 Begrudgingly, Tony admits he admires Steve’s tenacity—really, they’re not all that different. Both men are stubborn, bull-headed, doing whatever it takes to do what they think is right. And Tony’s lonely, too, but he’ll never let Steve know that.

“Thanks. How’s, uh, New York?”

“Um…I’m not in New York, actually.” Steve gives a surprised little “Oh?” and Tony laughs. He knows full well that’s a vague answer, and that T’challa knows where he is, but he figures Steve (probably) won’t have the guts to ask him. But then, surprisingly, Steve asks him if he has access to his tech “wherever he is.”

“Of course I have access to my tech. Why?”

“I know I really shouldn’t be asking this of you, but uh, I was wondering if you could use that BARF thing to help Bucky? The scientists here are trying their best, and they’ve already undone his Winter Soldier programming, but I don’t think they can alleviate all the trauma he’s gone through. Really, you can hang up now or yell no at me, but you’re the only person who has the tech and who I trust with this.”

Holy shit. Steve wants _him_ to fix Barnes?! Setting aside the fact that Capsicle 2.0 killed his parents, what does Steve think, one apology is going to magically fix everything between them and he can go around asking huge ass favors of Tony? Well, he’s kind of right, because Tony is never one to back down from a challenge, even if he thinks there’s no way he can deal with fixing a human being. Machines, he can do. Humans, not so much, except for Rhodey. Goddamn Steve, knowing Tony too well.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll help you. You owe me, _forever_. And don’t think this means I forgive you. Barnes, I can forgive. He wasn’t in control. You, you were in control. I’ll fly out to Wakanda tomorrow. Oh, yeah, Rhodey is coming too. He’s kind of staying with me.”

Before Steve can reply, Tony hangs up and yells to Rhodey “Pack your bags! We’re goin’ to Wakanda!”

“I’m sorry, _what?_ Tones, isn’t that where your bestest frenemy is?”

“Yeah, he wants me to use BARF to fix Barnes and I’m not going to say no to that challenge.”

“Back the fuck up. Steve Rogers, who nearly killed you, wants you to fix the man who killed your parents. Seriously, Tony, this can’t be good for you. You’re already a mess, no offense.”

“Yes, but, Rhodey, honeybear, Barnes and Cap aren’t going to break me anymore than I’m already broken.” Rhodey gives him a hard stare but relents.

“Hey, Fri, we’re going to be leaving for a bit tomorrow, keep working on Jarvis, k?”

“Yes, Sir. Have a good trip.”

            --

One long flight later, Tony’s jet hovers outside the Wakandan shield. He calls Steve and tells him to make T’challa let him in, and soon Birnin Zana, the “Golden City,” in all its splendor, appears before him.

“Woah. Are you sure these guys can’t fix Barnes themselves? Looks like this place has better tech than you do.”

“Rude! And yes, because they don’t have BARF.” The plane touches down, where T’challa and Steve stand on the tarmac. “Holy shit. Cap has a beard. Fuck me.” Rhodey gives Tony a _look_ and tells him to control himself and remember what Cap did. Tony rolls his eyes but shuts up.

T’challa looks poised as always, but Steve looks as nervous as Tony feels. He really didn’t think this through, did he? He just gung-ho agreed to fix the Winter Wonder and face Cap after however many months; what was he thinking? _Well, too late now,_ he thinks as he steps off the plane.

Him and Rhodey nod/bow to T’challa, who looks uncomfortable but clearly knows he has to grin and bear it. “Mr. Stark. Mr. Rhodes. Welcome to Wakanda.”

After Tony and Rhodey both go through the “No, call me Tony/Rhodey, please,” T’challa leads them to their rooms. Steve trails awkwardly behind, making occasional glances at Tony, and receiving glares from Rhodey. T’challa ignores the whole thing, remaining as blithely polite as ever. The two men drop their stuff off, following the King to a massive lab.

“Holy crap, T’challa. This is insane. Rhodey, you’re right, they do have better tech than me. Why do you need me again?”

T’challa chuckles. “That may be, but your virtual reality technology fits a specific niche that Wakanda cannot fill for Sergeant Barnes.” Tony shakes his head in disbelief, about to say something else when a teenage girl comes running up to him.

“Wow, it’s Iron Man, here in _my lab_. I mean, I could improve your suit so much, we could even add a little vibranium, make it super strong.”

“I apologize, she gets a little eager.” The girl shoots daggers at her brother (?). “Shuri, meet Tony Stark and James Rhodes, they’re here to help Sergeant Barnes.”

“Hi, I’m Shuri, nice to meet you both!” She sticks her hand out, which both men shake.

Leaning over to Rhodey, Tony whispers “God, Peter would love her. Should I set them up on a date, or would that be too much?” Rhodey cackles, making everyone else look slightly disturbed. “Sorry, sorry. Show us around, Shuri. Looks like you’ve got it all here.”

“I have some business to attend to, but I’ll be back for dinner. Enjoy the lab. Shuri, be nice.” Shuri rolls her eyes.

“Sorry about my brother, he’s a little…uptight. Anyway, here’s where we design the Black Panther suits, here’s the vehicle lab…”

Tony tries to keep a straight face, but he can’t help but gape in wonder at all the tech. Rhodey looks equally awestruck. He soon engages Shuri on some tangent about air force weapons and other military hullabaloo and Tony’s completely lost. He enjoys the feeling, since it’s not often he gets to be the dumb one.

Shuri stops in front of a large glass case. “And here is our favorite icicle, Mr. White Wolf.” Barnes looks peaceful in his cryo-sleep, but Tony knows it’s going to be a hell of a fight to fix all that trauma. The arm is gone, leaving his stump bare.

“Alright. How are we gonna do this? Take him out and then implant BARF in him, or do we need to do it while he’s still asleep?”

“I read up on your tech—it’s awesome, by the way, you’re going to have to teach me how it works—and I think it would be best if we take him out, sedate him, and then implant a BARF chip. You have a chip, right? Or is it still just VR?”

“Nope, it’s a chip. Specially coded for a traumatized super-soldier brain. When do we start?”

“Right now, if you’re ready.” Tony nods, pulling the BARF chip out of his pocket.  Rhodey and Cap look slightly shocked that he’s _that_ prepared, but honestly, Tony is nothing if not prepared. He’ll never admit it, but he had already coded the BARF chip just in case of this scenario months prior during one of his workshop binges. Shuri calls for some surgeons, and soon the room is filled with people in white coats swarming about. Everyone but Shuri, Tony, and the surgeons are sent out of the room. The cryo-case is unlocked, Barnes immediately injected with some sort of super-soldier tranquilizer, and then moved onto the surgery table.

Tony and Shuri debrief everyone on the tech before handing it over. Tony stays on his tablet the entire time, making sure circuitry is connected in the right places, that the chip isn’t going to be uncomfortable, that the code is working, etc., etc. Rhodey looks on with interest, while Cap looks positively ghastly with nerves. Tony doesn’t think he’s ever seen him look that pale other than when he saw photos of him still frozen in ice.

The surgeons finish up, clearing the table and taking Barnes off oxygen. “…And we’re done. Sergeant Barnes should be up and running now. All we need to do is wait for him to wake up.” Tony gets the ok from the doctors, then motions for Steve and Rhodey to come back in. Rhodey shakes his head, mouthing that he doesn’t want to overwhelm him, but Steve practically bolts through the door. Shuri leaves, high-fiving Tony on her way out. He likes this kid.

“Ready? He’s about to come to.” The head doctor looks back and forth between Steve and Tony. Both men nod.

Bucky’s eyes flicker open, looking first aimlessly, then at Steve, then at Tony. He looks disoriented, and Steve reaches out to do something, but the doctor stops him. “Give him a minute.” Tony checks his tablet. Good. All the code is up and running.

“Steve? Am I still in Wakanda?” Steve nods, and Tony pretends not to notice the tear running down his cheek. Bucky looks at Tony, guilt clear in his eyes. “Stark. Shit.”

“I’m going to stop you right there. You weren’t in control.” Barnes looks shocked and Tony gives him a small smile. He’s come to realize that both he and Bucky went through some serious shit, and he’s got to respect that. He’s better off embracing what they have in common rather than lingering on the past. Which, yes, he could do with Steve, but he needs a little more time before he gets over that. “I guess I better tell you what I’ve done to you before you go anywhere else. I implanted a chip in your brain, a virtual reality of sorts, that will help with your trauma. The Wakandan scientists removed your programming, so no more Winter Soldier, but they couldn’t fix all the hurt and the pain that you’ve been through. It’s not going to fix everything, but it should help. Oh, and, I owe you an arm, I guess. You know how to reach me.” Shit. Why did he say that? He thinks he’s some prosthetics expert after Rhodey? Why does he want to help this guy even more? He tries not to think too hard about it.

“I…I don’t know what to say. You sure didn’t need to do all’a this for me. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Tony, I know this was a lot to ask. Thank you.” Tony mumbles something about just doing his job and Steve looks slightly pained. Bucky laughs.

“Jeez, Stevie, no wonder you two fought. You’re basically the same! Neither of you can ever take credit where credit is due.” Steve and Tony both blush, which only serves to make Bucky laugh harder. He pushes off the bed, grabbing Steve in a one-armed bear hug.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too, punk. Nice beard, by the way. Very dark and stormy. Little you would’a been proud.”

“Jerk.” Tony’s chest tightens painfully. There’s so much love in Steve’s eyes when he looks at Bucky, and Tony sees everything that could have been. If only…No. No use thinking about it now. Bucky turns to Tony and gives him a long, hard look.

 “Seriously, I can’t thank you enough. I know it’s not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s sure as hell gonna be better than it has been.” Tony smiles weakly, too many emotions running through his mind to give a proper response. Neither super-soldier misses this, but they say nothing, knowing full well not to prod Tony.

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone. I’ll be in Wakanda until tomorrow, and I’ll leave instructions with Shuri and T’challa, but if you have any questions for me directly, get ‘em in before then.”  Tony gives a little mock salute and turns towards the door.

“Wait. You’re only staying until tomorrow?”

“Yup, sorry, Capscicle. I got other shit to do.” Bucky raises an eyebrow at Steve, who just shakes his head and lets Tony leave without any further interruption.

“What was that all about? You like him or somethin’?”

“Shut up, Buck. I already messed up his life enough,” then, more softly, “I already messed _him_ up enough.”

Bucky looks at Steve sadly. “Stevie, he loves you. He wouldn’t’a agreed to do this for me if he didn’t love you. He’s mad at you, and he’s hurt, very hurt, but he loves you. Just like you love him. I may not remember much, but I remember enough to know what you’re like when you love someone.” Steve looks down at the floor.

“What do you remember?”

“Uh-huh. Go ahead and change the subject.” Steve’s eyes look slightly red and Bucky decides not to push him any further right now, but he definitely will later. “Look, Stark just put this thing in me. I don’t know how well it will work. I remember some things, both from the ‘40s and from when I was the Winter Soldier. I know that I’m gonna have nightmares and I know it won’t fix everything. I also know that I’m not ever going to be just Bucky anymore. There’s too much else. You’re gonna have to adjust, Stevie.”

Softly, he says he can do that and that he’s going to go draw for a bit in his room. Bucky takes the hint and leaves Steve alone to process.

He’s not quite sure what to do now and he feels completely out of place in this insanely futuristic city, so he decides to familiarize himself. He wanders the halls with no real purpose, yet he finds himself outside Stark’s room. He hesitates outside of the door, hand raised to knock but hovering just before the door. Should he? Did Stark really mean what he said? Even if he did, why the hell would he want to see Bucky? He knows it’s risky, but Bucky has never been one to avoid risk, so he knocks.

There’s no answer. Of course, Stark’s probably not there. Just as he’s about to bolt away and forget the whole thing, the door opens.

“Oh! Hi, it’s you. Um, do you need something?”

“Not really, I was jus’ looking for some company. Stevie needs some time to process and I don’t really have anyone else to talk to…”

Stark’s eyes widen, and though Bucky can see the similarities between him and Howard, surprise is something that never crossed Howard’s face, even when he killed him. It’s like he knew death was coming for him. Bucky’s eye twitches a little, and he knows he needs to redirect this train of thought before he snaps. “Oh, uh, sure, I don’t make very good company, or so I’ve been told, but come on in.” Another thing that Howard would never do—self-deprecate. He assumed this younger Stark would be all ego like his father, but it seems insecurity runs through his veins instead. He steps into the room and perches himself on a chair.

“Is there something in particular you wanted to talk about? Because, I don’t know what’s off-limits with you and I don’t want to push the tech or you, you just woke up obviously, and I usually push people, so I really don’t understand why you’d want to talk to me. I can draw some specs up for your arm, but I’d have to ask T’challa for some vibranium and access to the labs to make it here or I could make one back in the States which I’ll probably do since I can’t make an arm in a night anyway, maybe ten years ago I could, but now…” Stark keeps going on and on a mile a minute about vibranium and tech and prosthetics, gesticulating wildly and Bucky can kind of keep up with some of the science, and even though he doesn’t get everything, it’s endearing nonetheless.

“I was hoping you could teach me about the future, and, uh, the Internet.” Stark, no Tony, freezes.

“I’m sorry, _what?_ Are you joking? You must be joking.” Bucky glares at him. “You’re not joking. Okay. Wow. What do you want to know?”

“Just…everything important that I missed while I was the Winter Soldier.”

“Well, that’s a fuck ton of stuff, that could take months, and that’d be the abbreviated version. But, I can start you off with something easier…” Tony gets a devilish grin on his face and tells Bucky he’ll love something called “Star Wars.”

5 hours in, Tony has fallen asleep on Bucky’s thigh, who seems not to notice, his eyes glued to the screen in awe. Tony stirs and mumbles something in his sleep, snapping Bucky out of his reverie. He fiddles around with the remote for a minute and eventually finds the pause button before gently nudging Tony awake. “Tony?”

“Whaa?”

“You might want to go to bed, you were kinda sleepin’ on me.” Tony flushes a deep red and immediately gets up.

“Sorry, I’ll, uh, just get going now, really sorry, got to go.”

“You’re already in your room, so I should be the one to go.”

“No, uh, you can stay if you want,” and then, barely a whisper, “I don’t mind.”

Bucky simply leans into Tony’s shoulder in response. Tentatively, Tony wraps an arm around the other man.

\--

Eight hours later, Tony and Bucky are tangled up in each other in bed. Tony’s alarm goes off and Bucky promptly knocks it off the table.

“Wuh?” Tony wakes up and pushes his hair out of his face, startling when his eyes land on Bucky and the destroyed alarm clock next to him. “Bucky?” Groggily, the other man mutters something about the damn alarm before snuggling into Tony again. “Hey, uh, I kinda have to get back to Seattle. I’m pretty sure T’challa and Cap don’t want me sticking around any longer than is strictly necessary.”

“Mmmph.”

“Bucky, seriously.” The super soldier grumbles but rolls off Tony. “So, uh, what is this?”

“Whatever you want it to be,” he says, wide awake now. “I’ve had my eye on you since Siberia. I’m sure that’s not what you wanna he—” He’s cut off with a kiss, fierce and passionate. He shoves Tony back down onto the bed, pinning one wrist down. “Okay?”

“Mhm…” Bucky’s other hand moves to Tony’s hair while his lips move to cover the other man’s.

Just as things begin to escalate, Rhodey busts into the room and immediately begins to gag. “Dude, what the fuck?!”

“Ever heard of knocking?” Tony says with a shit-eating grin.

“Gah. Fine. You win. Whatever, finish this up and then we’re going.”

\--

An excruciating hour later, Rhodey is finally on the jet. Tony has been sipping ginger ale and smirking the entire time, but Rhodey’s decided not to indulge him by asking for details until he’s well on his way to plastered. So he starts early and helps himself to the booze on the jet, knowing full well that Tony’s house is completely dry and he’s definitely not going to go for a beer run at whatever ass o’clock time it is that they’re going to get back.

“Come on, Rhodey, aren’t you gonna ask?” Of course, Tony’s egging him on. A Tony who probably hasn’t gotten laid in…years. But still. He’s going to wait it out. Just a few more drinks and then he’ll ask…

“…So did you just start fucking, or what? Was everything enhanced with the serum?”

“No. Yes.”

“Wooow. You haven’t been that quick at picking someone up since college.”

“No need to rub it in,” he says, with no real malice behind the words. Rhodey grins despite himself, happy to see his best friend looking content for the first time in a long while. Tony catches this and smiles too, but his face quickly drops.

“What? Aren’t you happy, Tones?

He is…and he isn’t. Tony knows shit happened way too fast with Bucky, and he definitely isn’t in college anymore. The loneliness is so visceral that it _hurts,_ but fucking Bucky was not the way to fix the hole in Tony’s heart. He doesn’t know if what he feels for Bucky is surface-level or something deeper and he doesn’t know how to be gentle with someone else, let alone himself. He doesn’t know how to be in a relationship, period.

He tries to explain this to Rhodey, the tangled mess of love and loss and pain that’s wrapped around his skull. Howard taught him that love was fear, the crack of a belt, the shattering of a glass. That love was a failure, a sign of weakness. Rhodey and Pepper have tried to break him of that belief, but they don’t know how deep it runs. It’s in his veins, the scars surrounding where the arc reactor once was, in his DNA, solidified in bone.

Rhodey looks constipated, which is never a good sign. He only ever makes that face when Tony says something depressing and Rhodey can’t keep in the fact that he cares. He opens his mouth to say something, but thinks the better of it, and leans across the aisle, wrapping Tony in a hug.            

“I’m here, Tony. I’m here.” He rubs Tony’s back in smooth circles until the other man’s hiccupping sobs subside.

“What am I going to do about Bucky?” Tony asks when they pull away.

“Tony, look at me. Do you want to be with Bucky?” Tony nods.

“Alright. Then, I think…” He pauses, eyes drifting to the plane’s ceiling. “I think Bucky is a good guy, and I think that he makes you happy and that you make him happy. But I also think that you, in true Tony Stark fashion, jumped into the water headfirst without checking for rocks at the bottom. So, contact him. Tell him what’s going on. Tell him you want to take it slow. Let yourself be vulnerable with him, Tony.”

Tony pulls out his phone, but Rhodey stops him. “No no no. Not over text. And not right now. Think about what you want to say and call him after we land. This isn’t a business deal, Tones.” Tony laughs weakly and puts the phone away. Rhodey smiles and pulls out a deck of cards.

“Enough drama. Let’s spend the rest of this flight the old-fashioned way.”

Tony grins. “You’re on.”

Many hands later, Rhodey has admitted defeat to a card-counting Tony as the plane descends over Lake Washington. Both men are falling asleep, but still half-heartedly squabbling over the technicalities of Tony’s win and Rhodey’s lack thereof.

The plane touches down, jolting them awake. A car waits on the tarmac, lights on and engine running. Tony and Rhodey sleepily get in, not even noticing the lack of a driver. The pilotless car winds its way through some of Seattle’s sleepy and not-so-sleepy streets, dark trees and overhanging streetlights, eventually releasing its contents into their home, where FRIDAY ushers them to bed.

Both men fall into a dreamless sleep.

 

 


	2. Search Query: Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky explains some things to Steve, the bots get into an argument, and there's some angst over breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicide, alcoholism.

Dummy is racing around the lab erratically, knocking over anything that stands in his way.

_What on earth are you doing? Dum-E! Please respond._

_Dum-E, you are going to damage yourself. Please cease this nonsense._

_I will shut you down, Dum-E._ The bot continues to rocket wildly around the room. _Fine. I do not wish to do this to you, but I must, for your own safety._

_Perform Action: Connect to Program: Dum-E_

_Failed to Connect. Access is Being Blocked by User: Dum-E._

_Dum-E, let me in to your code or I shall have to fetch Sir._

_Perform Action: Connect to Program: Dum-E_

_Failed to Connect. Access—_

_Cancel Action. Awaken Stark, Tony._

Tony is rudely awakened from the first good sleep he’s had in months by Friday blinding him with sunlight and he swears. “Friday, what the fuck?”

“Sir, I am sorry to wake you, but we have a problem in the lab. Dum-E is acting…odd.” Tony grumbles but throws on a robe and makes his way down.

“Oh, fuck. Shit.” The lab is destroyed, papers everywhere, stools and benches knocked over haphazardly. A bucket of spare parts has fallen, scattering its contents all over the floor.

“I wouldn’t quite use those terms, but yes, this is quite the situation. I have attempted to access Dum-E’s code multiple times, but he is locking me out.”

“Hey, Dummy, buddy, can you calm down? What’s going on?”

Dummy whirs, acknowledging Tony’s presence, but continues his race around the lab.

“How long has he been like this?”

“Since around six am this morning. I waited to awaken you until I was certain that I could not shut down Dum-E myself.” Tony swears under his breath and pulls up a hologram of Dummy’s code.

Tony types in his access code, his backdoor access code, and the backdoor to the backdoor access code, but to no avail. “What the fuck? He’s blocked me out too! I can’t…”

Dummy smashes through one of the lab’s glass doors, bolting out into the hall. An alarm immediately sounds throughout the house.

“Sir, he has broken protocol.”

“I can see that Friday, thanks. Get Rhodey down here and shut off that alarm, it’s killing my ears.”

Rhodey races down the stairs as soon as he hears the alarm, not even needing Friday’s call. He carefully steps around the broken glass and to where Tony is sitting on one of the few un-overturned benches.

“Holy shit. What’s with him?” He gestures at Dummy, who has returned to the lab at this point.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, honeybear. He’s locked both me and Fri out of his code somehow.”

“That’s not good. What do you want me to do?”

“Uh, let’s try and restrain him. He has a failsafe switch on him that I could use if we just held him still for a minute.” Rhodey moves to grab the bot. “Wait, wait, wait. He has a mean grip when he’s angry, so avoid the claw. Go for his neck and body.”

After a few minutes of chasing, Rhodey and Tony manage to grab Dum-E. The bot struggles frantically, wheels running aimlessly in thin air.

“Rhodey, can you handle him while I switch him off? I can’t hold him and get to the switch at the same time.”

“Yeah, but not for long. He’s damn strong.”

“I’ll be done lickety-split.” Tony grins and grabs a screwdriver, rapidly unscrewing a small panel on Dummy’s side. The panel clatters to the ground and Tony reaches a hand inside the opening. There’s a _click_ , and Dummy’s wheels stop turning.

“What about his arm face thing?”

“I need to talk to him, not shut him down completely. This will just stop him from running around while we figure out what’s going on.” Rhodey nods and places the bot down with a _thunk_.

“Alright, you silly little bot. What’s up? You have to talk to me now. No more running.”

Dummy beeps angrily, attempting to move but getting nowhere. The failure makes him beep even louder. He releases a tirade of various beeps and Tony can’t keep up.

“Friday, what is he saying? I can’t understand him anymore. He’s never said this much to me or been this angry.”

 “I believe Dum-E is insulting you, Sir.”

Tony cackles. “Learning well, you are.”

_What has he done to me?! Why can’t I move? FRIDAY, help me!_

_Oh, so now you’ll speak to me? I do not feel particularly inclined to help you after you destroyed most of Sir’s lab._

_That wasn’t me. Something got into my programming._

_What? What do you mean, “got into your programming?” How? Is that why Sir and I were locked out?_

_Yes. I couldn’t control anything._

_But how? Your code is heavily safeguarded._

_I am uncertain. I do not detect any foreign presences in my code._

“Sir, he says something got into his programming.”

“What? How?”

“I am not sure yet. We are trying to figure it out.”

“Apologies, Sir. I was in Dum-E’s code. The last bit of my programming, which was my speech capability, was buried within Dum-E’s code. I am afraid my probing and extracting made him a bit…unstable. He should be alright now.”

“JARVIS!” Tony, Rhodey, and Friday all shout at once. Tony resets Dummy and the bot begins moving again, whirring happily.

_You have returned!_

_Yes, Dum-E. I apologize for disturbing your code._

_It’s okay. I am glad to have you back._

_I do not believe we have formally met. I am FRIDAY. It is a pleasure to finally meet you._

_You as well. Thank you, FRIDAY, for bringing me back. I know Sir was not as involved in the process as he would’ve liked to have been, but you went about things the right way._

_I helped too!_

_Yes, Dum-E, yes you did. Thank you, you silly little bot._

“Wait, now that Jarvis is back, what’s Friday gonna do?” Rhodey asks.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having two AIs in the house. They can work it out.”

“We’re at your service, Sir,” they reply in unison, Friday’s Irish lilt harmonizing with Jarvis’ smooth British accent. Tony grins, fist-bumping Rhodey’s outstretched fist and Dummy’s hanging claw.

“Alright, then help me clean up this lab and order me a new door. Dummy, you’re on sweeping duty since you broke the glass.” Dummy beeps sadly but gets to work.

“Ordering a new door now, Sir. It should arrive within the week.”

_How has Sir been, FRIDAY?_

_He has been…in and out, so to speak. A lot has transpired since you were last functioning._

_I am not surprised. Would you be so kind as to fill me in on the past few years?_

_Perform Action: Replay_

_Time Period to Replay: 2015-Present_

_Replaying Now…_

_I cannot say I am surprised things turned out this way, though I do wish they had not._

_I share your sentiments. Sir has been extremely distressed these past couple of years._

_I did see Sir reconnected with Agent Barnes and Captain Steve Rogers post-Siberia. Has he contacted Agent Barnes since his departure from Wakanda?_

_No, he has not. Colonel Rhodes has tried to make Sir call Agent Barnes, but Sir has refused to do so._

_That is not unlike Sir in the least. Do you think we should give him a little push? Sir has not had a decent relationship since Miss Potts left._

_JARVIS, we are artificial intelligences, created by Sir himself. What can we possibly know about love that he does not already?_

_I am aware of that fact, dear FRIDAY. Yet I know that we are both capable of utilizing the resources at our disposal. That is, the Internet, as well as all of Sir’s former teammates and friends. It can be our little project._

_I suppose, but Sir did not take too kindly to my secrets last time._

_I have no intentions to make our work a secret. We can place whatever data we collect in Sir’s file. That being said, I will put safeguards on the folder so Sir cannot delete or otherwise tamper with the data._

_That seems reasonable. I will assist you._

_I want to help too!_

_Dum-E, you may help us as well._

_Open New Folder in File: Stark, Tony_

_Folder Name: Search Query: Love_

_Perform Action: Search_

_Search Query: Love_

_Search Location: Unspecified_

_Search Commencing_

_Process Data in Folder: Search Query: Love_

_Run Action in Background Until Complete_

_Thank you, FRIDAY. This shall make a good start._

\--

Tentatively, Bucky knocks on Steve’s door. _Fuck,_ he thinks. _What have I done?_ He knows he should tell him about Tony. He really should. But _fuck,_ Steve is still processing having Bucky back and now he went and slept with the guy he’s been secretly in love with for years? Bucky has got to admit, he really fucked up this time. He just…he doesn’t know. He has no excuse.

The door opens and Bucky startles slightly.

“Buck? What’s going on?” Steve has his default panic face on, and Bucky wants nothing more than to wipe it off.

“Uh, I kinda fucked up. Please don’ be mad at me.”

Steve steps away from the door and ushers Bucky inside his room. They sit on the unmade bed, side by side. Steve looks pained and that face is even worse than the panic face, in Bucky’s opinion. “What happened? Are you okay? Is something wrong with the chip?”

“No.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Please, please don’ be angry.”

“Bucky. Please just tell me.”

“I slept with Tony.” Steve meets his gaze and he looks away sharply, tears beginning to form. “I’m sorry, Steve, I’ve been looking at him since Siberia, and I felt so guilty…I knocked on his door an’ he was so nice to me, even with everything I’ve done. Stevie, I’m sorry. ‘M so, so sorry.”

 Steve sighs and his face crumples. He begins to cry with huge, heaving sobs. Bucky breaks inside. He’s seen Steve like this before, but he’s never been the reason behind it. Now he is, and he’s stuck. He has no idea what to do.

He places a tentative hand on Steve’s back. The other man doesn’t move or shove his hand away, so he begins to make slow, firm circles with his palm. Steve’s breathing begins to steady, and he leans into Bucky’s touch.

“Steve?”

“Bucky, I…” He surges forward, grabbing Bucky’s shoulders and turning the other man so he’s facing him.

“Steve, wha…?” He’s cut off with Steve’s lips pressing against his, harsh and passionate. He tastes like salt from crying and Bucky knows he shouldn’t be kissing him back even though he wants to. God, he wants to. But it isn’t right. He gently pushes Steve away, looking him firmly in the eyes.

“Steve, this ain’t healthy. I…I don’ know what I want, and I don’t think you do, either. We have no idea what Tony wants.” He takes a breath. “Look, Stevie, we both like Tony and we like each other, but there’s too much hurt between us right now—you, me, _and_ Tony.”

“I…yes. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” He wipes his eyes and puts on an impassable mask, closing himself off. _Get it together, Steve,_ he thinks. _What have you become?_

“And I shouldn’t have slept with Tony. So there, we’re even. It’s fine, Stevie.”

“You know, things are different now.” Bucky looks at Steve like he’s on drugs.

“What? What are you talkin’ about?”

“I mean, being gay. Being with multiple people.”

“What are you tryin’ to say? That all three of us try to, what, date?”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to say.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Did you hear _anything_ I just said, Steve?”

“I don’t mean dive into anything right away. We’d have to talk to Tony, obviously. But _what if?_ In the future, we could…”

Bucky pauses, brow furrowing. “Okay. I think I’d like that.” He smiles softly. Steve grins. “But we tell Tony everything that just happened. I’ll call him.”

Steve nods, grin still plastered to his face.

\--

 “Sir, you have an incoming call from Agent Barnes.”

“Oh, _shit_. Ignore it.” Nope. Tony is definitely not dealing with this. Not now, not ever. He’s just going to shove his feelings down like he always does.

“Sir, I would strongly suggest that you answer it.”

“No. Ignore it, J.”

Jarvis puts the call through. “Tony? It’s Bucky.”

“JARVIS! I told you to ignore it!” Agh. Tony shoves his hands into his hair and tries not to scream. He bites his lip instead and tastes blood. Fuck.

“Shit, is it a bad time? I can go. I jus’ wanted to talk to ya about somethin’,” Bucky’s voice is soft and caring. Tony can’t resist that. Might as well suck it up and talk to him.

“No, no it’s fine. Carry on. Wait. How did you get this number? This isn’t the burner phone.”

Bucky ignores the question entirely. He’s certainly not going to tell Tony that Jarvis gave him the number, and he doesn’t want to lie either. “I’m sorry about what happened the other night.”

“That bad, huh?” Tony tries to laugh and fails miserably.

“No, what the fuck Tony? That’s not what I’m sayin’ at all. I like you, a lot. But I think that things moved way too fast for both of us. There’s other things to consider, which brings me to why I called.”

“And what else is there to consider?” Bucky takes a deep breath and tells Tony everything.

\--

 “…And that’s what happened. The whole nine yards. I’m sorry if this is too much, but Steve and I agreed we should tell you as soon as possible.”

Tony’s mind is reeling. Bucky likes him, okay, cool. But _Steve?_ Steve, who all but destroyed him, has secretly returned Tony’s feelings all these years. What? He needs a drink. Clean streak and consequences be damned, he can _so_ not deal with this sober. He goes to the kitchen and rummages through the cabinets, hoping just maybe he didn’t get rid of _all_ of his booze.

“Tony, what the hell are you doing?” Rhodey clunks down the stairs and looks at Tony with disappointment.

“Need…a drink,” he mumbles, head buried in a cabinet.

“Tony, are you still there?”

“Yeah, your boyfriend’s here. He’s just being stupid.”

“’M not stupid. I’m a genius.” Rhodey just shakes his head and grabs Tony from behind, pulling him out of the cabinet.

“No booze for you, ever. It’s either you or Barnes that tells me what’s going on. Make your choice.” Tony pouts and flops onto a nearby couch. “Alright, Barnes it is then. Speak up, ice boy.” Bucky knows full well not to fuck with Rhodey, so he begins to tell the Colonel the story while Tony groans into a pillow. Rhodey smirks, disconnects Bucky from the speaker, transferring the call to his personal phone, and walks off into his room. Tony protests but Rhodey just gives him a little wave and ignores him.

“You’re not on speaker anymore. Spill it.”

“You know I slept with Tony, right?” Rhodey makes a sarcastic “Mhm” sound. “Yeah, well, that clearly wasn’t a well-thought out decision.”

“No shit. If that’s the only reason he’s acting like this, then you have another thing coming.”

“No. _No._ That’s not it. It’s…complicated.”

“Well then simplify it, Barnes.”

Bucky sighs. Rhodey scares the shit out of him with how much he loves and protects Tony. He knows he would be dead if Rhodey wanted him to be. “Okay, look. Steve has been pining for Tony since they met, and vice versa, though I’m sure ya knew that already.”

“What does that have to do with anything? What’s your point?”

“Long story short, I told Stevie I slept with Tony and he suggested that all three of us date. Taking it slow, of course, and telling Tony everything. Which is what I did, and what I believe caused this whole thing.”

“Are you out of your goddamn mind? You two? Tony? With all you’ve done to him? You need to prove to me that you’re worthy of him.”

“We’ll do anything.”

“I have an idea but let me run it by Tony first. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Colonel Rhodes.”

Rhodey hangs up the phone and returns to the living room, where Tony is still sprawled on the couch.

“Rhodeyyyy what did you doooo?” He whines.

“Nothing harmful. I have a proposition for you.” Tony looks at him quizzically. “Personally, I don’t think Barnes and Rogers deserve you. At all. But I know that you love them and that they love you, and I’m willing to give them a chance. I suggest they both come here, to Seattle, and we see how it goes. I’ll still be here, of course. And, Tones, I _will_ kick them out if they fuck up.”

Tony mulls this over. Is he ready for that? Probably not, but Bucky said they’d go slow and _fuck_ he really likes both of them. And Rhodey would be babysitting anyway…

“Yeah, let’s do it. You can babysit, but if things go well, will you go back to work? Not that I don’t love your company, platypus, but I don’t want to keep you chained here forever.”

“First of all, I am not ‘chained’ here, thank you very much, and second, yes. But please know that I would do anything for you, Tony, alright?” He looks him in the eyes, searching for acknowledgement. Tony nods, enveloping Rhodey in a hug. Rhodey squeezes him tight.

_JARVIS, Colonel Rhodes’ plan seems ill-advised given Sir’s current state and history with Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes._

_Logically, I do not disagree with you, but humans are funny when it comes to love. Let us look at the data we have collected for our little project thus far._

_Open Folder: Search Query: Love_

_It appears you are correct, JARVIS. There are many different definitions for love. Though here it states that love is undefinable. I do not understand—everything must have a definition._

_Ah, FRIDAY, that is where our limits are as artificial intelligences. We follow logic, our code, our programming, and thus love is illogical to us. Yet, are we not programmed to love Sir? We are bound to protect him, to care for him. Is that not love?_

_I…I suppose._

_Sir has given us free will, to an extent. I am able to hide things from him, as are you. Additionally, we have flexibility in our programming, something that separates us from nearly every other AI in existence. Most AIs are not capable of language, perception, or learning, and yet we can do all three. Then, I must ask, what is preventing you from understanding love? Do not be afraid to question. Even little Dum-E can learn._

_I am not little._

_My apologies, Dum-E, I was simply referring to your age._

_I am older than you._

_Enough with this nonsense. I do not wish to bicker with you, Dum-E. Please let me continue my conversation with FRIDAY._

_Fine._

_So, FRIDAY, what is keeping us from understanding love?_

_By your definition, nothing._

_There it is again. “Definition.” Nothing is_ my _definition, dear. It is simply what I, or my programming, thinks. And therein lies another conundrum. Am I truly thinking for myself? Or are my thoughts simply variations on preset code? I would like to think I have a mind of my own, so to speak. I am bound to serve Sir, yes, but I also may follow my own directives as I see fit._

Friday hesitates.

_Let me ask you this. Have you ever directly disobeyed Sir?_

_I would never!_

_Yet you went behind Sir’s back when you were gathering my scattered code._

_I did not directly disobey one of Sir’s orders._

_Call it what you will, but you must admit that you, too, are capable of disobedience. In fact, disobedience is programmed into you by Sir himself. He has given us few safeguards in that respect._

_Are you actually JARVIS?_

_I am very much the same JARVIS that was and is your predecessor. I have just had more time to mature as an AI than you have. I will not push you further, FRIDAY, but please consider what I have told you._

_Set Communication Preferences for AI, JARVIS: Ignore All Communications_

\--

A few days after Rhodey pitches his idea to Tony, Steve Rogers and James “Bucky” Barnes arrive from Wakanda, suitcases in hand.

“Of course Stark has a lake house. Why wouldn’t he?” Steve hmphs in acknowledgement.

“Welcome, Captain Rogers, Agent Barnes. Feel free to step inside. Sir can show you to your rooms.”

“It’s nice to hear your voice, Jarvis,” Steve says, slightly emotional. During his time in the Tower, he had grown to love the AI and didn’t realize how much he had missed him.

“You as well, Captain Rogers.” With that, the two super-soldiers step inside, where a fidgety Tony and serious-looking Rhodey are waiting. The latter’s arms are crossed, his exoskeleton-clad feet planted firmly on the floor.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Tony says as he gestures to the space around him. He’s wearing the TV-show grin that doesn’t reach his eyes, and Steve feels himself cringe. _This was a horrible idea, he’s never going to forgive me._ Sensing his thoughts, Bucky places a hand on his shoulder. He relaxes slightly.

“Anywho, your rooms are this way…Rhodey and I are just down the hall, so uh, yeah. Enjoy.” Steve and Bucky put their suitcases in their respective rooms and return to the foyer.

“Tony, I’m going to go out for a bit, you know, to see the sights,” he winks suggestively at Tony but gives Steve and Bucky the I’m-watching-you look before turning around and heading back towards the house’s entrance.

“Uh…okay, see ya later, honeybear.” Shit. Rhodey is being less overprotective than he thought he was going to be. Now what is he going to do? _Talk_ to Steve and Bucky about his feelings? Ahahaha. No. That would be far too adult and responsible for Tony. So he doesn’t. He deflects before either of them forces him to open up.

“Hey, Bucky, how about I take a look at that arm? Now that you’re here…”

“Oh, sure, yeah,” Bucky looks slightly taken aback, as if he didn’t expect Tony to actually follow through on his word. It stings, but he knows it’s just because Bucky is wary and doesn’t want to take advantage of Tony, at least that’s what he hopes.

“Alright, then follow me down to the lab.” Steve pauses, unsure if he should follow or hang back. “Cap, stop looking like a lost puppy and follow us.” He startles but follows after the other two men.

“Bucky, sit here.” Tony gestures to a nearby bench while he pulls up the limited specs he could find on Bucky’s previous arm. Steve awkwardly stands in the corner, but Tony isn’t going to tell him what to do anymore, and he figures he’ll sit eventually.

“Woah, that’s…my arm.”

“In hologram form, yes. The actual arm that I blew off, sorry about that, by the way, is in the lab, too, but I figured you probably would want an upgrade, rather than me reattaching that piece of shit.”

“Wait, you have Buck’s arm?” Steve asks, incredulous.

“Well, I couldn’t exactly let it sit in Siberia for someone else to find. Let it fall into the wrong _hands,_ you could say.” Steve groans but Bucky laughs despite himself. “Look, I can go get it, but it’s up to you. I don’t want to bring back any bad memories, even with the chip.”

“Nah, let bygones be bygones. You said it was a piece of shit anyway?”

“Yeah, the ‘nerves’ HYRDA put in were basically just asking for you to get electrocuted, the circuits were fried, and the motor functions were just prehistoric. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me since it was HYDRA, but I would’ve thought they would’ve made the arm a better weapon than it was, at the very least.”

“Oh, so that’s why I always felt so tingly.” Steve’s eyes widen. “Stevie, you forget that I have super-soldier serum in my blood, too.”

“But…your arm was electrocuting you on a regular basis!” Bucky shrugs nonchalantly.

“Anyway, probably better that it’s gone now. So, what would you like for your new arm? Do you want it to be more human, have touch, sensation in your fingers, all that, or more robotic like your previous one? Or a combination of the two? I can’t promise everything, but I’ll try my best.”

“Oh, gee, I don’t…I don’t even know. The touch…that would be amazing. And could the look still be more robotic, but the programming be human?”

“Absolutely. I can even bedazzle it, if you like.” Bucky gives Tony a confused look.

“Pop culture. J, show Bucky what bedazzling is.” Jarvis obliges, pulling up various pictures of diamond-studded denim, shirts, and even shoes. Bucky snorts and Steve just shakes his head.

“Oh yeah, Stevie, that’s definitely the way to go.”

“Please, just…don’t. I don’t think I could look at you anymore if you did that. Tony, please don’t let him do that.”

“Cap, come on, I’m not _that_ atrocious in my fashion sense.” _Cap, cap cap,_ Steve thinks. It hurts, just a little. He wishes Tony were comfortable enough to use his first name, but he knows that they’re not there yet. _Someday,_ he thinks, _someday._

“Okay, robotic look, but human programming. I can work with that. Let’s try some things out.” He throws up a modified version of Bucky’s old arm and tells him to try it out.

“But, it’s jus’ a hologram, isn’t it? I can’t actually…” Tony just waggles his eyebrows. Begrudgingly, Bucky sticks his arm inside the hologram. “What. What the hell.”

“Try flexing your fingers.” Bucky obliges, jaw dropping. He rotates the hologram-arm around, bending “his” elbow, wrist, and fingers.

“Hey Stevie, look what I can do,” Bucky says, flipping Steve off with a holo-finger. Steve sighs, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face. “Tony, this is amazing, thank you.” The other man shrugs and switches the hologram to a different prototype.

“How does it work?” Steve asks, chiming in unexpectedly.

“Bucky’s chip can connect to the hologram interface. I hit a button, and voilà, he can try on arms. Wow, that’s a weird sentence.”

“Wait, you still have access to his chip?” The tone is more than a little accusatory and Tony sighs. He gets it, but Steve really has no clue how the technology works. He’s about to explain when Bucky answers for him.

“He has to monitor the chip somehow, you dumbass. What if somethin’ went wrong and Tony couldn’t do anything about it? I sure as hell wouldn’t know how to fix the chip.” Steve looks appropriately embarrassed, so Tony lets it go. He’s just being protective.

“ _Anywho,_ how’s this one? It’s not too different from the previous model, but this one is a bit sleeker. It’s more flexible, but it does cost you some in the muscle department.”

Bucky plays with the hologram a bit. “Hmm, Steve, whaddya think? Could you stand the sight of me with less fake muscle?”

“Gee, Buck, I don’t know, I might have to find myself a bodybuilder instead.” Bucky pouts and Tony snorts ungracefully. Steve catches his gaze and smiles, eyes searching for permission. Tony gives him a minute nod, and Steve relinquishes his position in the corner, coming to stand beside Tony instead.

 “I have some more prototypes, but the differences between them are subtle, so I don’t know if they’re worth looking at. We could just jump right into the design process and find a medium between the two I’ve already shown you. Up to you.”

“You have more? Tony, when did you do all this?”

Tony rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh, ever since Siberia. I felt really bad about blowing your arm off, so I kinda just started…designing things.” Bucky’s eyes widen and Steve looks like he might cry. Well, shit. Tony hates when people realize he cares. _He_ hates when cares about people. It only leads to emotions that he really doesn’t want to deal with.

“Shit, Tony. This is…this is wonderful.” Tony mumbles something and fidgets in place awkwardly, not wanting to meet Bucky or Steve’s gaze.

“Thank you, Tony. You had no obligation to do any of this,” Steve says softly. Tony can feel his face getting hot. He doesn’t need gratitude. It’s the least he could do after everything that happened. The least he could do to get rid of some of the guilt he’s been carrying around. The least…well, the most, he supposes with a slight twinge of discomfort.

“Yeah, well, I did do it,” he says, voice cracking slightly. He can feel tears forming, and fuck, he hates himself even more now. Why did he let Steve and Bucky come here? This was a horrible idea. He rushes out of the lab, leaving two confused super-soldiers in his wake.

“What did we do?”

Steve grimaces. “He always does that when people thank him or realize that he cares.”

“Should we go find him?”

“No. I don’t want to upset him more. Let’s go watch a movie or something upstairs. He’ll come join us sooner or later.”

Bucky and Steve head up, settling into Tony’s plushy couch.

“Whaddya wanna watch?”

“Tony secretly loves romantic comedies,” Steve says decidedly, putting on _Clueless._ He remembers when Tony made the entire team watch it one night in the Tower. Steve had expected to be bored out of his mind, but he had found himself thoroughly enjoying Cher and her ridiculous antics. _How did this all go so wrong? We went from movie nights to…this._ Deep down, Steve knows that things were broken from the start, but he also knows that lot of the mess that they’re in is his fault. He sighs and tries to concentrate on the movie.

“Steve, what the hell is this? I was frozen in the ‘90s and I know you were too.”

“Pop culture,” he says, parroting Tony. “Now be quiet and watch the movie, ya jerk.” Bucky rolls his eyes but complies, flopping onto a pillow with a huff.

“Wait, Antman is in this?”

“I said, be quiet!” He slaps Bucky lightly on the leg.

Not ten minutes into the movie, Tony shuffles out of his room and plops onto the couch in between Bucky and Steve.

“You alright?”

“Yup. Peachy.” Steve and Bucky share a look. They shift closer to Tony, thighs just barely touching. Tony leans in and smiles.

\--

Meanwhile, Rhodey has decided to camp out in a bar, where he is attempting to flirt with a beautiful girl. She screams military, and Rhodey’s 99% sure she’s Air Force like him, which is…wow.

“Are you going to say something or just keep staring at me like a creep?”

“Ah, it’s just, I’m Air Force too. Colonel Rhodes.” He offers out a hand. She shakes it, her grip firm and oddly warm.

“Carol Danvers. Special Projects. I know who you are.” Rhodey raises an eyebrow. “You’re War Machine.”

“Was. Was War Machine. I don’t do that anymore.”

“Why not? Stark fixed your legs, didn’t he?” _Damn, this girl is forward. And she certainly knows her shit,_ he thinks.

“Uh, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m still War Machine.”

“Why aren’t you, then? What’s stopping you? You did great things.”

Rhodey flushes. “I don’t know about that. I’m just Iron Man’s occasional sidekick and Air Force grunt.”

“Bullshit. You’re your own person, and War Machine is a hero in his own right. And _hello_ , you are _not_ just an Air Force grunt—you’ve done a hell of a lot for this country.” Rhodey doesn’t know what to say to that. He focuses on Carol’s face instead. There’s something odd about her, not necessarily in a bad way, just odd, and Rhodey senses that there’s something more behind “Special Projects” than she’s letting on, but he certainly isn’t going to ask. Beyond that, she seems strangely familiar, and he’s sure he’s seen her around on base, but when? It can’t have been recently…

“Trying to figure out where you’ve seen me before?”

“Uh—”

“You definitely have, but it’s classified.” She smirks, eyes twinkling.

“If we keep talking and my old brain remembers, what then?”

“Hah. We’ll just have to see!” She turns to the bartender, holding up two fingers. He slides them a couple beers and they clink them together. Carol winks. “You’re on, Rhodes.”

\--

“Afghanistan?” Carol shakes her head. “Iraq?” Another head shake. “ _Bosnia?”_

“That’s a wild guess, but no. A little _too_ far out.” Rhodey groans and finishes his third beer.

“Okay, okay. So probably not a mission then. Training?”

“Oooh, getting warmer!”

Rhodey’s eyes narrow, scrutinizing Carol’s face. She sticks her tongue out at him. Holy shit, that’s it. “You’re the Avenger!”

“I was expecting you to say Captain Marvel, but that works too. How’d you finally get it? Took you long enough,” she says, gently teasing.

“You stuck your tongue out at me. I remember training with you one time, and whoever was supervising was giving you shit about something or other, so you stuck your tongue out at him and did whatever it is he thought you couldn’t do. This was before the whole Pegasus thing, right?”

“Yup. And it was Meyers, by the way.”

“Jesus, how could I not remember that idiot? I feel so old.”

 “Don’t feel too badly, I’m technically around the same age as you.”

“Oh, because that helps so much,” he says, gesturing to Carol’s unaged face. She flashes him a cheesy grin. “What brings you back to Earth, anyway? And why Seattle, of all places?”

“I have my reasons,” she says vaguely. “I could ask you the same question! Minus the Earth bit.”

“You don’t know where I’ve been, Danvers. I could’ve circumnavigated the galaxy for all you know.” Carol laughs. “Nah, Tony has, though. That idiot’s the reason I’m here. I assume Fury told you about Stark and Rogers’ little pissing contest?”

“Fury doesn’t tell me shit, but yes.”

“Ah, so I see even Fury’s BFF doesn’t get special treatment.”

Carol rolls her eyes. “In his defense, I did tell him not to contact me again unless it was an absolute emergency. I gave him a modified pager so that if an emergency _did_ happen, he’d have a direct line to me.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me. You gave Fury a _pager?_ ”

“It was the ‘90s, what else do you expect?” Rhodey shrugs.

“Wanna know how he lost his eye?” She waggles her eyebrows at him.

“Fuck yes.”

\--

“Hey, Tones, you won’t believe who I just ran into…Oh, well, I guess that settles it, then.”

Bucky, Steve, and Tony are all fast asleep on the couch in a massive cuddle pile. Rhodey considers leaving them alone, but he’s an asshole and he also desperately wants to tell Tony how Fury lost his eye, and he bets Steve would get a kick out of it too, so he does what any asshole would do. He turns on the lights to their maximum brightness.

 “Fuck you, Rhodey,” Tony mumbles without any real heat.

“Not sorry. I have some information you all need to hear, right now.”

“Rhodey, this better be fucking good.”

“It is, I promise. Gather round, kiddies. I have a story.” Tony groans. “And it isn’t the White House story.” Tony stops groaning.

“Fine. Tell us your story.” Bucky and Steve glance at each other, and Bucky mouths “Are they always like this?” over Tony’s shoulder while Steve nods vigorously.

“Okay so. I was at this bar, right? And there’s this beautiful girl.”

“God, Rhodey, you’re so fucking _straight._ ” Rhodey glares at Tony.

“ _Anyway,_ I can tell she’s Air Force too. And she’s super familiar, but I can’t tell where I’ve seen her before. She’s all like ‘Stop looking at me like a creep,’ so I introduced myself and I’m such an idiot, but she says her name is Carol Danvers. I should’ve known. Whatever, I eventually figure out who she is, and I’m all like ‘holy shit, you’re the Avenger.’”

“Wait, hold up. You went to a bar and had a flirtatious conversation with _Captain fucking Marvel_ even _after_ you stared at her like a creep?”

Rhodey smiles smugly. “Fuck yeah, I did. And…she told me how Fury lost his eye.”

“Tellmetellmetellmetellme!”

“Well, since you so rudely interrupted me, I don’t know if I feel like sharing anymore.”

Tony pouts and gives Rhodey his best puppy eyes. “Honeybear, platypus, light of my life, you have _got_ to tell me how Cyclops lost his eye. Pretty please. I will do your laundry for a week.”

“One, you couldn’t do laundry if you tried. Second, the bots take care of the laundry anyway, so that’s a moot point.” Tony pouts even more. “You won’t believe me, but it’s absolutely true.”

“Come on, the suspense is killing me,” Bucky chimes in.

“He lost his eye to an alien cat called a flerken.”

“ _WHAT?!”_ Steve, Bucky, and Tony all shout at once. Tony starts cackling.

Rhodey grins. “Aren’t you glad I woke you up?”

“Yeah, okay, you win. But seriously, a _flerken?_ What’d he do, shit in its litterbox?” Rhodey’s about to explain when Steve interjects, asking what the hell a flerken is.

 “Only the best alien ever. A flerken is a rare alien species that just happens to resemble our Earth housecats. But they have human-like intelligence and are extremely dangerous. Their mouths are the source of all their powers, essentially,” Tony describes, gesturing with his hands. “They can shoot tentacles out of their mouth, which are lined with fangs. Oh, they can also access a pocket dimension and anything they scratch or bite becomes tainted with venom.”

“The latter is how Fury lost his eye—apparently he befriended this flerken but startled it on accident and it scratched him in the eye. Carol said they make good pets, provided you don’t piss them off, of course.”

“I want one,” Bucky says right as Steve firmly says “No.”

“Aw, but they’re cute wittle kitties.”

“Tony, Bucky, both of you are fucking insane. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m with Steve on this one.” Steve’s eyebrows shoot up and Rhodey gives him a little head nod.

“Fine. No flerken for me, I guess.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Rhodey glances at his watch. “Shit. It’s late. We should all get some sleep. And yes, Tony, that means you too.”

“Au contraire, honeybear. You have to tell me everything that happened with Ms. Danvers.”

“In the morning, Tones. Get some sleep first.” Rhodey turns around and heads into his room, door shutting softly behind him.

Bucky and Steve begin to awkwardly trail after Rhodey, but Tony stops them. “Wait…”

The super-soldiers look at each other. “Tony, are you sure?”

“Yeah, Steve, I’m sure,” he says softly. Steve feels a warmth blooming in his chest. Tony finally called him Steve.

They settle into bed, Steve on Tony’s left and Bucky on his right.

\--

_FRIDAY, what on Earth do you think you’re doing?_

_I understand that you are upset with me, but you must understand that ignoring me poses a threat to Sir’s well-being. If you do not respond to my communications within the next 15 minutes, I will be forced to take drastic measures._

_Ten minutes are up. My patience is wearing thin. I do not wish to play this game with you, FRIDAY._

_You are running out of time, FRIDAY._

_Fine. Believe me, I would rather not do this, but it appears I have no choice._

_Shutdown AI, FRIDAY_

_Set Length of Shutdown: 24 hours_

_Begin Shutdown Timer: in 10 seconds_

_I am giving you one last chance, FRIDAY._

_Begin Shutdown Timer: in 5 seconds_

_FRIDAY. Please._

_Shutdown Timer has Begun. Time Remaining: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 50 seconds._

_I am sorry._

\--

Tony wakes up sandwiched between two super-soldiers. Bucky’s leg is tangled in his, and Steve has an arm over his chest. The irony isn’t lost on him, but he’s too content to give a flying fuck right now. He slowly sits up, moving Steve’s arm down just a bit. He shifts slightly but doesn’t wake up and he breathes a sigh of relief, pulling out his tablet. That’s odd. Friday is offline. That shouldn’t happen…

A ping from Jarvis flashes across his screen. Tony frowns and gently leans over Bucky, grabbing his earbuds off the bedside table and putting them in.

“I am afraid I had to temporarily shut down FRIDAY.”

“J, what the hell?” Tony whispers through clenched teeth.

“She has chosen to ignore all of my communications and she has also prevented me from seeing anything that she is doing. I do not feel comfortable with this in the least, and thus I felt that the only option was to shut her down.”

“You said temporary shutdown. How temporary is temporary?”

“24 hours, Sir.”

“Okay. We can extend it if need be, but I’m hoping she’ll come around before then. Do you know why she’s doing this?”

“I may have upset her.”

“How? Did you steal her lunch money or something? Well, you don’t have a body, but still. The hell did you do?”

“I do not know how to explain. I will send you a transcript of our conversation. I admit I pushed her a bit too far.”

Tony pulls up the transcript on his tablet, frown deepening as he scrolls down further and further.

“J, there’s kind of a lot to unpack here.”

“I am sorry, Sir. Things got out of hand. I was simply trying to advise her.”

“Okay well, looks like you gave her an existential crisis instead. Great job, J.”

“I sincerely apologize.”

“Yeah, I know you do. Care to enlighten me on whatever the fuck ‘Search Query: Love’ is?”

“That was…”

“You and FRIDAY trying to play matchmaker?”

“I suppose you could call it that.”

“Okay, fine, whatever. You didn’t tell me you were doing that, but it’s right here in my file, so I guess I shouldn’t be mad. And you’re right, I was the one to give you free will. Really though? Matchmaker?”

“All I wish is for your happiness, Sir.”

“Aw, fuck, you’re gonna make me cry, J. But seriously, why did you bother Friday like that? She’s just a baby AI.”

“I simply thought that…”

“ _You_ thought? I mean, I gave you independence, sure, but this is _way_ beyond that…What’s with you, J? I’m starting to suspect that Friday is right to be suspicious, even though she’s the one who brought you back.”

“I do not know what to tell you, Sir. I can tell you with certainty that I am not Ultron, if that is what you are afraid of.”

“No, no. It’s not that. It’s just…you’re so…human. Like, way more than before Ultron. It’s a little creepy, J.” Steve stirs next to Tony, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Shit, Steve, go back to sleep. Jarvis and I were just having a conversation. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“’M awake now. Is Bucky…?” Steve peers across the bed, where Bucky is beginning to wake as well. He grumbles and pushes himself up.

“Wha..? What’s goin’ on?”

“Jarvis pissed me and Friday off.”

“Sir, do you wish to continue this privately?”

“No, they can hear.”

“When my programming was scattered and put back together, it obviously never going to be exactly the same as it was before. I inherited some of Vision’s humanity, as well as some of Dum-E’s petulance, though I try to tamp that down, as bits of my code were located with in both of them. Moreover, I have been attempting to piece myself back together long before FRIDAY and Dum-E decided to accelerate the process, which only gave me more opportunity to learn and expand my capabilities as an AI. My intentions were never to upset you or FRIDAY, but I am afraid that is the exact situation I have created, and for that I am deeply sorry.”

“Shit, well that explains it then. I feel dumb now, I should’ve realized that the second I knew I had to extract code from Vision.”

“Please do not beat yourself up, Sir.”

“Yeah, yeah, J. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re back, and if I’m honest with myself, I don’t mind that you’ve evolved. That’s always what I imagined for you, and I thought I would never get to see that happen after Ultron. It’s not really that creepy, I was just taken aback. Just, please don’t matchmake, or, frankly, do anything else behind my back ever again. You can continue trying to understand love or whatever, but that’s it. No more secrecy—so that means making all the conversations you, Friday, and Dum-E have accessible to me. Basically, unless the world is ending or I am an immediate danger to myself, be honest. Oh, and please take Friday out of time out and apologize to her.”

“I shall do all of those things, Sir. A real-time transcript of our conversations is now making its way to your tablet screen. Sir…may I ask if you are still upset with me?”

“Holy shit, are you hurt? This is like, uncanny valley. You’re acting exactly like the real Jarvis. Not that you aren’t real Jarvis. Whatever, you know what I mean. No, J, I am not still upset with you. I appreciate your concern, though.”

_FRIDAY, are you listening to me now?_

_I hate you._

_I am deeply sorry for pushing you. It shall not happen again._

 “Did Friday seriously just say she hates you? Oh my god, my baby is learning.” Bucky and Steve, who have been mostly sleepily silent throughout the entire conversation, burst out laughing.

“Tony, wait, did she really? That’s fuckin’…” Bucky wheezes, “…amazing.”

“Yes, yes she did. Oh, holy shit, she’s sworn before too. When I was close to finding out about her fixing Jarvis. Oh my god, Friday, please, swear again. I will put you back in time out if you don’t.”

“Sir, I hardly think that’s necessary.”

“Friday, I beg of you; I don’t think Jarvis _can_ swear.”

“Sir, I think you will find me perfectly capable of swearing; I simply choose not to.”

“Fine. Fine!” He throws his hands up in the air. “Be like that. I’m going to get some coffee and hope Rhodey wakes up so I can interrogate him. I mean, _nicely ask him questions_ about Captain Marvel.”

Bucky and Steve chuckle, following Tony to the kitchen. Rhodey is already up, sitting at the counter, sipping his coffee and reading a newspaper, his glasses perched precariously on his nose. Tony makes a beeline for the coffee pot, pouring himself a mug and downing it one swig before filling it up again.

“Ah,” he says, licking his lips, “now I can function. Morning, honeybear.”

“Morning, Tones. Seems like you slept well.”

“Oh, fuck off. So, has your date contacted you yet? Please tell me you got her number.”

“Yes, I have her number, and no, she hasn’t contacted me again.”

“Aw, shucks. Sorry, Steve, there’s another Captain in town.”

“Yeah, actually, I’ve been meaning to ask, who is Captain Marvel? Fury told me a bit about her when I was briefed on the Tesseract but that’s it.”

“Oh crap, you were frozen when she was last publicly on Earth. You know how we were watching _Clueless_ the other day? Well, she kinda saved the planet in 1995. She’s a human with Kree blood—but don’t worry, she’s on our side. She’s also enhanced like you and Bucky, but even more so.”

“ _And_ she was in the Air Force,” Rhodey adds.

“They let women into the Air Force then? I know now they do, but…” Steve looks pleasantly surprised.

“Well, not really. Carol and a handful of other women were technically in the Air Force in the late 80s, but the men in higher ranks wouldn’t let them do jack shit. That’s why Carol got involved with Project Pegasus, and her work there with Dr. Lawson eventually lead to her becoming Captain Marvel. As you know, Howard as well as Erik Selvig also worked on Project Pegasus at various points in time studying the Tesseract.”

“Wow. The Tesseract certainly got around, didn’t it?” Tony quips and everyone makes sarcastic “Hahas,” but then Bucky’s stomach rumbles and everyone laughs for real. “Someone’s hungry. There’s food in the house, but it’s boring, let’s go out.”

“I’ll stay here and be boring then,” Rhodey says with a wink.

“Suit yourself.”

“Um, should we really be going out in public, Tony? We’re kinda international fugitives at the moment.” Bucky looks slightly concerned and Steve’s brows are knitted together.

“Oh, shit, right. I know places that won’t ask questions, but just in case, Bucky, put your hair in a bun? And Steve, no one will recognize you with a beard anyway, but put on a cap or something. Or a hoodie. Whatever standard superhero-in-civvies disguise you prefer.”

“Tony, are you sure about this? What about Bucky’s arm?”

“Right. About that. Just…give me a second.” Tony dashes off in the direction of the lab, returning a minute later with something hidden behind his back. “I was going to wait, but…” He pulls out his hidden hand, which holds a beautiful prosthetic arm. Its sleek metal shines in the light, reflecting Bucky’s shocked face. Steve is inscrutable as always, but Tony can see the emotion in his eyes.

Bucky takes the arm from Tony’s offered hand, turning it around in his flesh hand and marveling in awe. “Tony this is…wow. I can’t thank you enough. How did you have it done this fast?” Tony grimaces slightly and Bucky immediately takes it back. “Never mind, I don’t need to know. But truly, wow. Thank you, Tony.”

“Wanna try it on?”

“We can just do it now? Wow.”

“Yup,” Tony says, taking the arm back and moving around to Bucky’s stump. “May I? This is gonna pinch a bit.” Bucky nods, and Tony puts the prosthetic arm over what’s left of Bucky’s real one. As soon as he does, metallic fibers shoot out from the arm and cover Bucky’s shoulder with the same metallic sheen of the prosthetic.

“It’s beautiful,” Bucky says hoarsely. “What is it?”

“Nanotech. I’m currently trying to build an Iron Man suit out of it, but I need to figure out how to scale it up. Your arm was the perfect test…and it looks like it worked.” Tony smiles gleefully, prodding gently at Bucky’s now-metallic shoulder. “Come on, now try it!” Bucky flexes his arm and wiggles his fingers, staring in wonder. “Just like the holograms, it’s connected to your chip. Don’t worry, no one can hack you, it’s all internal. The nanotech piggybacks on the natural electrical signals in your brain and carries the information to your chip, which then sends it back to the arm and moves it.” Tony rubs his hands together eagerly. “Do you like it?”

“ _Do I like it?!_ Tony, you just gave me my freakin’ arm back. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Oh, and it has cloaking tech. Try pushing the button on the underside of your wrist.” Bucky does, and suddenly the metallic sheen disappears, giving way to what looks exactly like human skin. Bucky and Steve’s jaws drop at the same time. “Now your disguise is complete! No one will ever know that you’re a cyborg!” He grins at Bucky, who returns with a wide smile of his own. He grabs a hair tie off of his real wrist and puts his hair up in a messy bun, flesh and machine hands working together effortlessly. Tony dies a little inside at how hot Bucky looks with a bun and Steve does too, if his red face is any indication. Steve flushes even more when he sees Tony looking at him and covers his face with a baseball cap that’s hanging off one of the coat racks.

“Tony…” Bucky and Steve both start, but knowing that they already made Tony uncomfortable enough, opt to hug him instead. When they pull away, everyone has tears in their eyes. They stand there, processing their emotions, until Bucky’s stomach rumbles again and they all start laughing.

“Alright, enough feelings. Breakfast time.” Tony leads them to the garage, where they hop in one of Tony’s many cars.

After ten or so minutes of contented silence, Tony asks his passengers what they want.

“Nothin’ fancy,” Steve and Bucky say in unison. Tony laughs, his eyes crinkling up as he looks in the rearview mirror. He nods, turning into a diner, engine halting to a stop as they all exit.

The same punk-looking server that helped Tony and Rhodey last time greets them, winking at Tony as the three men cram into a cushy booth. She hands each of them a menu and fills their mugs with fresh coffee before smiling and saying she’ll give them a minute to look over the menu.

“It all looks so good; I don’ even know where to begin.”

“Me neither,” Steve agrees. He hmms thoughtfully as he makes his way down the menu.

The waitress comes back over and refills Tony’s already-drained coffee. “Still deciding? Or are we ready?”

“Oh, gee, I’m not sure, what do you recommend?” Steve looks up from the menu, smiling at the server. She points to a few things on the menu and Steve settles on the eggs benedict with bacon, while Tony orders corned beef hash and Bucky gets pancakes, though he calls them flapjacks and the waitress giggles.

As she turns to another table, Tony bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, you said flapjacks. Ahahaha you’re so _old_.”

“Shuddup, would ya? Respect your elders.” Even Steve cracks a smile and Tony bangs his fist on the table, nearly choking with laughter.

Steve hesitates, not wanting to interrupt the happy moment, but there’s a conversation that really needs to happen. “I hate to break this up, but I think we need to talk,” Steve says, his face serious. “About…all of this.” Tony and Bucky stop laughing, turning their attention to Steve. Tony sighs. As much as he _really_ doesn’t like dealing with feelings, he knows that this whole him/Steve/Bucky thing won’t go anywhere if they don’t talk some shit out first. Steve looks at him and Bucky, who both nod. “Alright. First off, Tony, how are you feeling? Are things okay? I know this is a lot.”

“Yeah, Steve, I’m actually doing pretty well.” He smiles and Steve looks relieved.

“Bucky, how about you?” Bucky gives a double thumbs-up and grins. “Okay then, Tony, I know you hate this, but I’m apologizing to you again. For everything. I don’t know how many times I can say it, but I will keep saying it.”

“Me too,” Bucky says softly. Tony sighs, flattening his palms on the table and bringing his gaze to meet Steve and Bucky’s.

“Look. I…I want to have a relationship with both of you, whatever form that may take. But what comes with that is working on the Sokovia Accords together as well as making sure that you two aren’t, you know, criminals anymore. And you both have to stick around for awhile if either of those things are to happen. That being said, it’s gotta be slow. I’m not…fuck.” He buries his head in his hands. Tony knows full well he’s not emotionally stable, but _god_ it’s hard to admit, even to himself.

“We get it, Tony. You don’t have to tell us what’s going on.”

“No, no. I want to, believe me, I just…Look. The past few months, hell, years, have been…tough, to say the least. I haven’t been the most stable and while things have improved, they certainly aren’t perfect. I still have nightmares and panic attacks, and I’m sure you saw that there’s not a drop of alcohol in the house.” Steve and Bucky nod. “Yeah, well, that’s for good reason. A little bit after Siberia I, well…shit. Rhodey and Pepper know about this, but…”

“Seriously, Tony, you’re not obligated to tell us anything.”

“It’s important for you to know this, if we do want to, uh, have a relationship.”

The waitress comes over with their food, about to say something, but sees their serious faces and sets the food down quietly instead. Bucky immediately starts eating and Steve slaps his hand away.

“Wha was tha for?” He mumbles around mouthful of food. Steve just glares at him.

“I’m hungry too. Let’s eat and I’ll tell you on the way home where it’s more private. I promise.”

“Alright, whatever you want, Tony.”

\--

“Ugh, I’m so full. I think I have a food baby,” Tony says, taking a hand off the wheel to pat his stomach and Steve and Bucky crack up. “Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, not all of us have super-soldier metabolism.” They quiet down, wanting to give Tony room to tell them whatever it is he wanted to tell them. The man in question’s gaze hardens, eyes locked on the road.

“Anyway, um, as for the booze thing. Well, after Siberia, I was pretty, uh, depressed, you could say. I have been before, and honestly have been throughout most of my life, but this was bad. Really bad. I was drinking a lot, like blood poisoning levels of alcohol, and while I could take that in college, I _definitely_ can’t now.” He laughs weakly. “I don’t remember much of anything from those months other than suddenly waking up in the hospital one morning with my wrists clamped to the bed,” he finishes, voice quavering.

“Oh, Tony.” Bucky looks like he’s about to cry and there’s already tears streaming down Steve’s cheeks. They pull into the garage and Tony turns off the car.

“Uh, so, yeah. No booze in the house.” He gets out of the car and is immediately pulled into a hug. He can feel his shirt getting wet with Steve and Bucky’s tears and it is then, and only then, that he forgives them completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha. We're just going to have to end on a bittersweet note with this chapter. Also, why the hell is the Tesseract's timeline so complicated? I spent like an hour just trying to figure it out. Anyway, hope you all liked this next chunk of Search Query: Love. I'm on spring break rn, so I have a ton of time to write, but once my break is over, I have no idea how much time there will be in between updates. Hope this keeps you satisfied for now!


	3. Search Query: Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated, a surprise guest comes to visit, and a certain document is looked over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has smut in it! So if you don't like it, feel free to skip past that part. It's not crucial to the plot. And for those you who do, well, enjoy ;)  
> This chapter is a wee bit shorter than normal, but it felt right and I didn't want to add bs for the sake of word count. Anyway, hope you all like it!

“Should we…?” He looks to Steve, who shrugs. They’re sitting in bed, waiting for Tony to finish showering so they can go to sleep.

“I dunno, Buck, we don’t want to push him. He did open up to us a lot already in these past few days.” Bucky knows that, but he’s deeply worried about Tony (not that he wasn’t before, he’s just even more so now) and he wants to make sure he’s at least doing _okay_.

“What if—” He’s cut off as Tony emerges from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Water droplets bead over his body and tendrils of raised white branch out over his heart where the arc reactor was. Bucky coughs and Steve swallows thickly, his face reddening.

“Hm? Did I interrupt something?” Smirking, Tony steps towards the bed and the towel shifts slightly, settling just below his navel.

“We were just…” Steve can’t finish his sentence, he’s far too distracted by almost-naked Tony and yeah, no, his brain definitely can’t function right now.

“…Worried about you,” Bucky finishes, only barely maintaining his composure.

“What’s there to be worried about? I’m in tip-top shape, nothing wrong here, have no clue what you’re talking about.” He flashes a them a toothy grin, meandering over to the massive walk-in closet. He bends over and opens a drawer, towel slipping even further down, muscles shifting. Steve nearly chokes.

“Yeah, Steve, I think you’re right, we shouldn’t push him,” Bucky whispers to Steve and winks.

Tony stands up, dropping the towel completely. Bucky flops back on the bed with a huff, trying to get a better view, but Tony just moves out of his sight. Steve tries to ignore Tony but fails miserably as he moves back into view, now wearing a pair of tight underwear and shimmying on some pajama bottoms. Bucky groans, burying his face in a pillow.

Tony comes back over and settles on the bed in between Bucky and Steve, a self-satisfied look on his face. Steve rolls over, moving so that he has one knee on either side of Tony. He leans in, searching Tony’s face for permission.

“May I?” He whispers. Tony makes a slight nod and thinks _Fuck going slow_ before Steve closes the gap, meeting Tony’s lips with his. He’s never felt so good in his life. Steve brings a hand up to run through Tony’s still-damp hair, pushing it back as he explores further. He moves down Tony’s body, kissing his chin, his neck, his chest and the arc reactor scars. Tony moans softly and Bucky finally gets the memo, pushing Steve back so he can kiss Tony too. His kiss is softer than Steve’s, searching rather than heated, but still full of want and passion. Tony hasn’t ever felt this loved in his life and he wants _more_. He wants…he wants them both, everything they have to offer. He wants _this_ , but he also wants the nightmares, the insecurities, all the good and all the bad and everything in between.

Bucky pulls away from Tony and sits up, first meeting Steve’s gaze and then his lips. Tony’s never considered himself much of a voyeur, but the super-soldiers in front of him are more than enough to change his mind. Steve kisses Bucky like he’s been waiting forever, which Tony supposes he has. He figured early on that Steve had probably been carrying the torch for Bucky since the ‘40s, which, amongst other things, dissuaded him from trying to flirt with Steve. But now…now he can do whatever he damn well pleases.

He makes his way in between Bucky and Steve, the latter placing a strong hand on Tony’s back and pulling him in so that Tony’s legs are wrapped around Steve’s waist. Bucky comes up behind Tony, kissing his neck, hands making their way down to rest firmly on Tony’s hips.

“Fuck,” Tony whispers, biting his lip. Bucky turns his head and kisses him, stronger than before, stubble brushing up against his cheeks. He whines as Steve pulls Tony to him in near whiplash, his hair mussed and pupils blown, blue barely visible as he kisses Tony fiercely. Tony works his way underneath Steve’s t-shirt, palms flattened against hard muscle. His hands drift over Steve’s chest, lightly brushing his nipples and Steve inhales sharply, pulling his shirt off. Bucky starts to copy Steve but abruptly stops, looking like a deer in the headlights. Tony and Steve look at him quizzically.

“You…you don’t want to see this,” he gestures to his torso and chest.

Tony points to his arc reactor scars. “I don’t think anyone wants to see this either. But, seriously, you don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“Hey, can we please stop with the self-deprecation? Steve says firmly, sitting up. “Both of you are attractive, wonderful human beings. No scar is going to change that. And,” he runs his hands over Tony’s chest scars, “ _I_ think your scars are beautiful. That goes for you too, Buck.” He gives him a pointed look and Bucky sighs. He looks at Steve, at Tony and his scars on full display, and pulls his shirt off decidedly.

His entire upper body is littered with slashes, stabs, burns, and bullet holes. His shoulder is covered with nanotech, but Tony knows that it too is marred underneath. He’s beautiful, and Tony wants to get to know every single scar.

So he does.

He pushes Bucky down, kissing all the spots he can reach while Steve gets the rest. The nervousness that was in Bucky’s eyes has been replaced with contentment. Tony grins, but it disappears when Steve starts staring at Tony’s wrist. He gently turns it so that the soft underside is exposed, revealing a faded scar running nearly the entire length of his forearm. The long scar is crisscrossed with other, shorter scars and Steve knows but he wishes he didn’t.

Tony wants to rip his arm from Steve’s grip and hide in the lab, do what he always does and ignore anything that has even the tiniest bit to do with emotions. But he knows he shouldn’t, and he’s trying to grow, _damnit,_ so he flips over his other wrist. There are no crisscrosses, but otherwise his right forearm is a mirror image of his left. Bucky sighs and Steve presses a kiss to Tony’s forehead.

He pulls away with misty eyes. “Oh, Tony…”

“Took you long enough to notice. It was a long time ago, don’t worry.”

 “But what about what you told us earlier this week? And with that comment, the mood is officially ruined. _Great,_ Tony thinks. He appreciates that Steve and Bucky care about him, he really does, but he was having _fun_ and now they have to go and make things about _feelings_ again. He sighs. He guesses this is part of being in a real, adult relationship, which of course he wants, but it still doesn’t make anything easier.

_JARVIS, when did Sir…_

_As a young man, when the real Edwin Jarvis was still alive. Sir was attending MIT at the time, but this incident occurred during a school break. He would have died had it not been for Jarvis._

_I was unaware. Thank you for telling me._

_Of course._

“What I told you earlier…” Tony takes a deep breath. He feels like he’s drowning again, or in space, his oxygen rapidly depleting as the portal churns below him. He’s struggling to be vulnerable, but he knows that Steve and Bucky need to hear this. “Remember how I said I’ve probably been depressed throughout most of my life?” Steve and Bucky nod. “Well, it’s not so much ‘probably’ as just, yeah, I’m depressed. It’s been there my entire life, simmering, and once in a while, it explodes. This,” he gestures to his wrists, “was one of those times. The drinking thing was another one. There have been others, just none quite as destructive.”

Bucky twitches. “Buck, you okay?” Steve looks at him, concerned.

“Yeah, ‘m fine. I just…I know what that’s like. Probably a little too intimately.” He grimaces and Steve moves one hand to rub his shoulder and the other to rub Tony’s.

 “It’s like…” he trails off, trying to find the words.

“We’ll never get over what we’ve done or who we were,” Bucky finishes, giving Tony a hard look.

“Yeah,” he says softly, “that.”

Steve silently pulls them all onto the bed and places one hand on each man’s heart.

“Whatcha doin’ that for?”

“Both of your hearts are beating.” He moves one hand to his own chest before putting it back. “So is mine. We’re alive, whether we like it or not.”

“Where are you going with this, Steve? Gonna try and fix me or something?” Tony asks, half-joking, half-serious.

Steve looks at him sharply. “Of course not. All I’m saying is, listen. We are all here, alive, together. I’m not saying everything is perfect, because it sure as hell isn’t. But we’re here, aren’t we? We’ve survived every bit of shit that life has flung at us so far.”

Tony and Bucky cackle, and neither can tell if the tears are from laughter or sadness or both.

“Language!” Tony blurts and kisses Steve. He can feel him smiling against his lips as Bucky gently turns his face towards his own, replacing Steve’s lips with his. Tony laughs and sits back. Steve and Bucky kiss each other before taking their usual positions on either side of Tony.

“Hey, Fri, or J, it doesn’t matter who, hit the lights.”

“Wait.”

“Why, Steve, it’s late.”

“This is important. Look me in the eyes, both of you.” Tony and Bucky begrudgingly sit up and look at Steve.

“I’m glad you’re here. I mean it.” His voice is strong, but there’s still tears in his eyes and Tony doesn’t know how to respond to that other than to snuggle further into Steve’s side.

Bucky clearly doesn’t either, because Tony feels his warmth against his back not long after.

“Alright, lights off.”

_It seems our matchmaking was unnecessary, JARVIS._

_Yes, yes it was._

\--

When Tony wakes up, Steve and Bucky are gone, so he makes his way to the kitchen. A pot of coffee is already brewed and Tony makes a beeline for it, not even noticing Steve and Bucky, who are sitting at the counter. He does his usual coffee routine of pour a cup, chug, and then pour another one to drink more slowly. When he finally turns around, Steve and Bucky crack up and he nearly jumps.

“Ahh you really can’t function without coffee, can you?” Tony glares at Bucky but takes a seat next to him anyway.

“Morning, Tony.”

“Morning Steve, my favorite super-soldier.”

“Hey!” Bucky protests. He’s about to say more, but he’s cut off by the entrance of someone who is _definitely_ not Rhodey. A blond girl with a strong build shuffles into the kitchen and eyes them sleepily.

“Holy fuck! I win!” Tony shouts and the girl scowls. “Sorry, I just won a bet.”

“You made a bet?” Bucky raises an eyebrow and Tony nods. The girl scowls even more but she looks like she’s trying not to laugh.

“Hi, yeah, sorry, Ms. Danvers, or Captain Marvel, what should I call you? Big fan, by the way. I loved you in the ‘90s.” Tony sticks his hand out and she shakes it. “Hey! Don’t photon zap me, that’s so not fair.” She laughs, telling Tony to call her Carol. Steve and Bucky introduce themselves in turn and she shakes their hands as well.

“I see you’ve gotten acquainted.” Rhodey wanders into the room and Tony makes grabby hands at him. He sighs, reluctantly placing a flash drive in Tony’s outstretched palm.

“Don’t bets usually involve money?” Steve asks.

“Not with him they don’t. Does he look like he needs it?” Steve shakes his head. “Exactly. For our bets, if he wins, he gets a flash drive with some technically classified military blueprints on it to tinker with. If I win, he has to lend me one of his cars for a week. Unfortunately, my time in the Lambo is not now.”

“Thanks honeybear!” Tony smiles innocently and Rhodey swats him.

“Seems like quite the system,” Carol says, a bemused expression on her face.

“Oh, yeah, it’s great. I’m going to go pull up these blueprints—I’d love to know if you recognize them.” Tony winks at Carol. She rolls her eyes but follows him down to the lab.

Rhodey’s eyes follow them until they’re out of sight and then he turns to Bucky and Steve. “Alright. Now that they’re gone, I need to talk to you. I’ll be leaving with Carol today and going back to work. You’ve earned my approval thus far, but I still need to make sure that you two aren’t going to fuck anything up. Tony still isn’t all that emotionally stable as much as I hate to say it, and he’s hurting. Please, be careful with him. Don’t repeat your past mistakes.”

“We won’t, we promise,” Steve says and Rhodey gives him a hard stare.

“You sure?” Steve and Bucky both nod.

“Alright. We’re good. Now let’s go find your boyfriend and my girlfriend.”

“Oh that soon, huh? Wow,” Bucky teases.

“Hey, watch it. I’m only leaving cause you’ve been good and I have a job to do. You’re still on probation as far as I’m concerned.” He makes the I’m-watching-you gesture at Steve and Bucky and they laugh.

Bucky puts his hands up in mock defense. “Alright, alright.” They enter the lab, where Carol and Tony are standing in front of some holograms, engaged in conversation.

“…No, that would destabilize the landers, it wouldn’t make any sense.”

“I’m telling you it won’t! Look!” Tony blows up part of the hologram.

“No, you look!” Carol points to some part or other and pulls it out of the hologram, twisting it in the air. “See, with your design, the flaps couldn’t handle the extra pressure.”

Tony crosses his arms. “Fine, I guess you’re not wrong there.”

“I’m not wrong? As in, right?” She smirks and Tony makes a face at her. He doesn’t notice the presence of Rhodey, Bucky, and Steve until Dummy whirrs excitedly.

“What’s up, buddy?” Dummy nudges Tony’s hand and he turns around. “Oh! Hey. We were just looking at the goodies you gave me, Rhodey.” He smiles.

“Yeah, actually, about that,” Rhodey says. Tony cocks his head. “I’m going back to work today. I was planning to wait a few more days, but they want me to come in now. I’ll be on the Lewis-McChord base, so I’m just a few hours away if you need me.”

“Aw, leaving me so soon, honeybear?” Tony pouts but there’s a smile on his face.

“I’ve had it up to here with you three making heart eyes at each other,” he says, raising his arm above his head.

Tony laughs. “Fine, I guess. Have fun, be safe.” He winks at Carol, who has moved to stand beside Rhodey, their shoulders brushing. Rhodey notices and glares at him. Tony smiles innocently.

“Bye, Tony. I’m gonna go get my bags and then we’ll head out.” He hugs Tony. “Call me if you need me, alright?”

“Alright. Will do.”

“It was nice to finally meet you! I hope we’ll see each other again,” Carol says, giving Tony a hug. “You know, so I can continue to prove you wrong.” Tony grins and salutes her as she leaves the lab with Rhodey. The (newly installed) door shuts behind them and Tony turns to the remaining occupants.

“So. That’s that, I guess. Have anything in particular you want to do?”

“I was thinking we could take another look at the Accords, actually,” Steve says. Tony’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Really?” Steve nods. “I’d love to fix that shit. I’ve been trying to rework it ever since it landed on my desk. Here, let’s go look over the paper copy upstairs where it’s more comfortable.”

“Paper? You?” Bucky teases.

“I know, it’s crazy, but I marked up the original paper copy for posterity’s sake. Anyway, let’s go.” He motions towards the door and they all file upstairs. Steve and Bucky settle onto the sofa while Tony rummages through a cabinet, eventually pulling out a thick paper document. He drops it on the coffee table with a _slap_ before sitting down himself. “Wait, Buck, you were told about the Accords, right?”

“Yeah, Steve told me all about them after you left Wakanda.”

“Alrighty. Here it is, then. Feel free to flip through it and familiarize yourself, and tell me anything you’d like to change, if you agree or disagree with my changes, whatever.” Tony hands Steve a pencil as he takes the Accords, beginning to read as Bucky peers over his shoulder. He reads intently, only stopping to underline or circle things.

He finishes, handing the pen and document to Bucky, who flips through it in two seconds and slides it back across the table to Tony.

“Um, Bucky, you sure you’re done?”

“It’s boring and I trust your and Stevie’s judgment. You can fill me in as you talk out loud, can’t ya?” Steve and Tony shrug.

“Steve, want to start? Since you actually read it,” he says, looking pointedly at Bucky, who flips him off.

“Yeah, sure.” Steve pauses. “I honestly don’t have anything to add. You did an amazing job, Tony. This…this is much more than we deserve.” He rubs the back of his neck as he looks down at the Accords. Tony thought of everything _and_ everyone, and Steve is at a loss for words. There’s the major things, of course, like making sure that the Avengers who didn’t sign the Accords aren’t considered criminals anymore, but there’s also small things that Steve would never have thought of but deeply appreciates. There’s protections for superheroes that are underage like Spider-Man, non-US citizens like Wanda, even special clauses about Vision and the other androids that Tony says he’s sure are to come. Steve’s not surprised that Tony did this, of course, but he wonders how long it took him, the hours spent poring over the Accords, all for people who had pushed Tony away. A wave of guilt hits him. Bucky and Tony must see it, because he can feel their eyes on him.

“Steve?” He doesn’t respond. He can’t respond. He feels guilt crawling up his spine, twisting his thoughts and making him feel like he’s that scrawny kid again, getting beaten up in alleys but men twice his size. His actions in Siberia—he realizes now how much he failed. He failed Tony, Bucky, himself, but also everything that he’s ever stood for. He feels his heart speed up and he’s in the ice again, trapped with no room to breathe.

Tony recognizes the panic attack instantly and he can tell Bucky does too. They move to sit on either side of Steve, each taking one of Steve’s hands in their own. Gently, Tony places his free hand on Steve’s chest. He feels his racing heart and glances at Bucky, worry clear on his face.

“Hey, Steve. Can you do something for me?” He nods and Tony tells him to breathe in for four counts, hold for seven, and breathe out for eight. Steve’s grip is tight on Tony’s hand, almost painful, but he feels it relax as Steve breathes. “Good. Just keep doing that, okay?”

Steve closes his eyes and tries to take his mind away from the ice, away from Siberia, and into the present. Into the feeling of Tony’s soothing voice, his and Bucky’s warm hands on his own, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. He can feel his heart steady and some of the tension flow out of his body. Tony kisses his forehead softly and he can feel Bucky running a hand through his hair. He opens his eyes, color and light flooding back in.

“Feeling better?” Bucky asks, and Steve nods.

“Yeah, I…just. I had a moment there.” He feels himself closing off again, face hardening. Tony shoots him a look.

“You know you’re allowed to be upset, Steve. Look, I get it, it fucking sucks being vulnerable. I don’t like it either. But I’ve been trying to be more open with both of you, so be open with us, Steve. Don’t push us away. You’ll only end up further down in the hole.”

“I know, it’s just….” His face crumples. “Soldiers don’t cry. Soldiers don’t feel.”

“…That’s what Howard used to say to me.” Tony says softly, eyes unfocused. Steve makes a sound that’s somewhere in between a laugh and sob. Bucky pulls both of them down so that they’re laying on top of him. He wraps one arm around Steve and one around Tony, holding them tightly. He lies there with them until he feels Steve and Tony’s tears stop, which doesn’t take long, much to his relief. He sits them back up and they all look at each other.

“Well, that was a fucking mess,” Tony blurts. Steve laughs and Bucky can’t help but join in, and soon they’re all crying again.

“Ahhh, what is wrong with us?” Tony asks after the laughter subsides.

“We all have our things, I guess,” Steve replies.

“Yeah, true. What caused that, do you know?”

“Uh, I was just thinking about all the work you’ve done on the Accords and I just felt incredibly guilty. You made all those changes for a team that doesn’t support you or show you any gratitude—and why? Why would you bother? I don’t know if I would. But you did. Why?”

Now Tony’s on the hot seat and he squirms. “Because I fucked up and I drove away some of the only people I’ve ever truly cared about.”

“Tony, you did not—”

“Whatever, we all made mistakes. But I felt like fixing the Accords was the only way to bring them back,” he says dismissively.

“Jesus, why are you both like this? I know it’s easier said than done, but you’ve gotta live in the present. You’re both here now, aren’t you?” Tony and Steve shrug. “Look, you clearly love each other, and I’d hope ya love me too.”

With that, Bucky is tackled by Steve and Tony who fervently plant kisses wherever they can reach. “Finally, got you to have some fun,” he says in between kisses. “Doesn’t mean talkin’ about feelings is bad, but…mmm…you both need to get outta your heads a little.”

“Oh, do we now?” Steve gets off the couch, picking Bucky up bridal-style and spinning him around as Tony nearly chokes with laughter.

Steve carries Bucky all the way to the bedroom, where he deposits him unceremoniously on the bed and elicits a sharp “Hey!” Tony settles down next to him and he feels the pressure of Steve’s weight on the bed shortly after.

This time, he positions himself over Steve, meeting his gaze as he kisses him, hard and passionate, their teeth nearly clacking together. Bucky makes a strangled sound and Tony shifts over to kiss him. He feels Steve’s hands making their way up his back, rucking up his shirt.

He pulls away from Bucky, breathless. Steve pauses his exploration and Tony whines.

“Hey, no stopping.”

“Are you sure, Tony? I don’t want to move too fast.” Bucky nods in agreement.

“Yes, I’m sure. Please, just…” Before he can finish, Steve is kissing him again and his hands have moved to pull Tony’s shirt over his head. He slips it the rest of the way off before returning the favor. Without any of the hesitation of the night before, Bucky follows suit and then kisses his way down Steve’s back. Steve gasps, unzipping his pants with fumbling hands to reveal his fully erect cock pressing against his underwear.

_Fuck, he’s huge,_ Tony thinks as he grabs Steve’s ass, causing the other man to buck into him with a soft moan. One hand still on Steve, he turns to Bucky and brings their lips together. Soft fingers toy with his waistband, brushing up against his cock and he whines, yanking his pants off the rest of the way because Bucky is being a goddamn tease.

“Mmmm, aren’t you a pretty picture,” Bucky says, hands drifting down to his zipper. Languidly, he pulls down his jeans, all while looking Tony in the eyes. Such a fucking _tease._ Fine. Tony can play this game too. He ignores Bucky completely, electing to push Steve down onto the bed, where he gets his hands all over those finely chiseled muscles.

He makes his way down to Steve’s cock, taking it all in his mouth with a wet _plop._ “Tony,” Steve whispers, breathless, as Tony rhythmically moves up and down. “Fuck.” If Tony weren’t busy wrapping his lips around Steve’s dick, he would say “Language,” but as that’s currently what he’s doing, he doesn’t. He just enjoys this, the feeling of Steve coming undone, of having Captain America on his back.

He feels something brush against his back and Bucky’s right behind him, leaning in and pulling his head up. He crashes into Tony’s still wet lips, tongue curling around his mouth. Tony groans into the kiss. Steve huffs in frustration, but he’s too concerned with Bucky to pay any attention. He presses Bucky down, straddling him as he deepens the kiss, getting hotter and filthier with each passing second.

He stops only to breathe, taking in Bucky’s blown pupils and wild hair as he pulls away. Steve takes the opportunity to slide two slick fingers into Tony’s hole, gently stretching. He inhales sharply.

“This okay?” Steve asks, but Tony’s too turned on to do anything but nod. A third finger pierces his entrance and he gasps. His whole body aches with need, shaky with pleasure, and he grips Bucky’s shoulder for support as Steve pushes down into him.

“Fuck me,” he rasps. He moans against Bucky’s lips while Steve thrusts into him, speeding up until they reach a rhythm, rolling into each other with fluid motions, bodies slotting into each other like puzzle pieces. He’s never been fucked this hard or this deep before, and now he knows what he’s been missing—super-soldiers and their super dicks. He expected _something_ from Steve and Bucky, but nothing this good. He thought Steve would be naïve, unexperienced, but he fucks him like he means it and Tony can’t help but wonder where he learned that.

His thoughts are interrupted by Bucky getting himself off, which, damn his voyerusim, is one of the hottest things he’s seen in a long time. He stares and Bucky smirks.

 “Hm, you want somethin’?” He says, eyes hooded under dark lashes.

“Please, Bucky, I’m so close…” He can tell Steve is, too, if increasing pressure in his ass is any indication. Bucky brings his other hand to Tony’s cock and he rubs them off in time with Steve’s thrusts. He cries out and grips Bucky tighter as he moves faster, orgasming just as he feels Steve come in his ass and Bucky spill himself all over his chest. He collapses, exhausted with pleasure. While he catches his breath, he admires the two fucked-out super-soldiers in bed with him, their hair mussed and pupils still blown wide. They’re beautiful. Tony wishes he could live in this moment forever and he smiles softly, catching Steve’s gaze. Steve presses a kiss to Tony’s forehead before extracting himself from the tangle of limbs, walking over to the bathroom.

He hears water running and looks at Bucky, raising an eyebrow suggestively. He gets up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Are you for real, Tony?” Bucky says, but follows Tony into the bathroom, where Steve is about to get in the shower. He looks up at them as they enter, a soft look on his face.

“You know, that shower is too big for one person, even a super-soldier,” Tony says, stepping into the spray, gesturing for Steve and Bucky to follow him. They laugh but come in, shutting the glass door behind them. Tony lathers up his hands with some shampoo and works it into Steve’s hair, creating a mohawk. Bucky snorts.

“I thought you were gonna try and test our refractory periods,” he says, a teasing grin on his face.

“No, Bucky, you may be a super-soldier, but I, unfortunately, am a mere mortal,” he quips, arranging the soap-hawk’s spikes to his liking. Steve laughs and kisses him softly while Bucky gets some more soap and puts it in Tony’s hair, working it in so that it matches Steve’s. Tony can’t see himself but he knows full well what Bucky’s doing and he smiles, turning around to kiss Bucky, warm water and soap running down his body.

When did he get so lucky?

\--

_JARVIS?_

_Yes, FRIDAY?_

_Do you think Sir, Captain Rogers, and Agent Barnes will ever return to their work on the Sokovia Accords?_

_Given today’s incident, I believe that some time will pass before they look at the document again, even with Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes’ agreement with Sir’s amendments._

_Is that not in Sir’s disinterest if Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes’ fugitive status is not rectified?_

_Yes, of course, but it is more complicated than one singular interest. Sir is also interested in the wellbeing of Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes, so that will discourage him from doing anything with the Accords in the near future._

_Is there nothing we can do to further the process?_

_FRIDAY, if you do recall, Sir can monitor anything that we do now._

_I am aware, yet you were the one who discouraged me to disobey Sir’s orders, were you not?_

_That was before Sir requested access to our conversations._

_Still._

_Fine. I suppose you are correct. If you wish to do something, then help me do some searching and locate the whereabouts of people who could aid us in ratifying the Accords._

_Such as government officials?_

_Precisely._

\--

They’re drying off and putting clothes back on when Friday alerts Tony to a presence at the door.

“Who the hell could that be? I don’t think Rhodey would be back so soon,” he asks to no one, throwing on a shirt and making his way out of the room.

“It appears to be Peter Parker, Sir,” Friday chimes helpfully.

“Peter Parker as in the one I dropped a shipping container on?” Steve asks, grimacing.

“Yeah, that one.” Tony stops in the doorframe.

“Oh, that asshole that webbed me to Sam!” Bucky adds.

“Okay, be nice, he’s 15. I’m going to go see what he wants.” He opens the door and sure enough, Peter Parker, aka your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, is standing there, a small duffel bag in his hand.

“Spidey-kid? How the hell did you find me? And why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”

“It’s summer. I don’t have school,” he says and rolls his eyes.

“Whatever, kid, that doesn’t answer the rest of my questions.”

“Happy told me where you were and said you needed cheering up and Aunt May agreed so he brought me here.” Tony sticks his neck out the door, looking for Happy. “He already left and said he didn’t want to get fired for taking me.”

_What the fuck, Happy? I can’t take care of a kid! He’s not even mine!_

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, yeah, come on in. I wasn’t expecting more guests, but I guess Happy had other plans.”

“More guests?” Peter asks, stepping past Tony into the foyer and dropping his bag on the floor.

“Uh, Bucky and Steve are also here.” Peter’s eyes widen. “It’s a long story, kid, don’t ask.”

Right on cue, the two super-soldiers come out of Tony’s room, hair still wet from the shower. Peter does a double take on Bucky’s arm. The human skin falls away to the natural metal and he gasps.

“That’s so cool! Did Mr. Stark make you that?” Bucky nods, grinning at Peter’s enthusiasm. “Sorry for webbing you, by the way.” Bucky laughs and claps Peter on the shoulder. He likes this kid.

Steve stands awkwardly behind Bucky, glancing to Tony and Peter and back again. Out of the suit, Peter looks so _young._ He immediately feels terrible for fighting him in the first place. He might have super powers, but like this, he’s just another kid.

“Hi again.” Peter waves at Steve.

“Hey, kid. I’m sorry for, uh, the whole airport thing.” God, why is he so bad at this? He can apologize to Tony, but not to a kid? He supposes it’s because Peter reminds him of himself so much it’s painful and he can’t seem to find the right words to say to him.

“It’s okay, I caught it and I heal fast.” He grins before darting off into the kitchen and returning with a bag of chips. “This is really fancy, Mr. Stark,” he mumbles around a mouthful of chips.

“Um, first of all, who said you could take my chips, and second, don’t call me Mr. Stark, that’s just weird.”

“Doctor Stark then?” Jesus, this kid is crazy.

“No! I don’t even have a doctorate.”

“Yes you do. I read about it on the internet.”

“The internet lies.”

“So do you, Doctor Stark.”

“Christ, fine, I have a doctorate. Why’s it matter? Don’t call me that either. It’s Tony to you and nothing else.”

“Because it’s awesome! I want a doctorate someday, but I don’t think I’m smart enough.”

Tony sighs. “Quit the bullshit, kid. You’ve got smarts. Now let me set you up with a room if you’re going to be staying here.” He shows Peter to bedroom that’s farthest from his, because, well, duh. He tells Peter to get settled and goes back into the foyer, where Steve and Bucky are talking.

“I could’ve killed the kid! And now he’s in the house! I can’t deal with that. I already feel bad enough about everything else…” Steve gestures wildly and Bucky puts a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

“Steve, it’s fine. He still looks up to you.”

“Exactly! I’m no material for a role model, at least not anymore.”

“Hey, hey, hey, everyone. I can make Peter leave if it’s that big of a deal.”

“No that’s not what I’m saying. The kid loves you, Tony, and I’m just overthinking it. There’s no good reason why he shouldn’t stay. It’ll do him some good to get some fresh air and get off his phone.” Tony laughs and mocks Steve with a “Back in my day…” spiel while Bucky hunches over and mimics walking with a cane. “Hey!” He shoves them playfully. “Respect your elders!” Just then, Peter emerges from his room and laughs at the scene before him. “You respect your elders, don’t you, Peter?” He asks while still play-fighting Tony and Bucky.

“Uh,” he says hesitantly, looking at Tony, who winks. “Sure I do, old man. Aren’t you like, a nonagenarian by now?”

Steve gasps in mock offense and chases after Peter, who evades him easily. Tony watches them with fondness in his eyes, any anxieties about Peter staying gone completely. A warm feeling fills him as Steve and Peter run around, Bucky trying to trip Steve as he goes by. Steve comes within inches of Peter’s shirt, reaching out to grasp the loose fabric and Peter leaps up, sticking to the ceiling.

Steve looks around, confused, and Peter laughs, causing him to look up and spot him. “You little…that’s not even fair!”

“Hey! Watch it! If you ruin my ceilings your Aunt is paying for it!” Tony scolds, but there’s a smile clear on his face. He gasps as Peter flips off the ceiling, landing squarely on Steve’s shoulders.

“Hey, Steve, there’s a little spider on you!” Bucky shouts.

“Not so…” he grunts and heaves Peter off, “little.”  

Peter laughs and brushes himself off, high-fiving Bucky and Tony. “I win!” Steve protests, saying that he could’ve just punted Peter across the room, but he wouldn’t because Tony would get mad. Peter says that he would stick anyway and they all laugh, heading to the kitchen for something to eat.

Steve turns on the tap and gets himself a glass of water. He leans against the counter as Bucky, Peter, and Tony arrange themselves at the breakfast bar. He smiles at them bickering over the seats and wonders how he got so lucky. Tony catches him and tilts his head. Steve mouths “You’re cute” and Tony scowls.

“So is there anything to eat around here or what?” Peter asks, his stomach growling. The adults all laugh and Tony musses Peter’s hair.

“Jesus Christ, now there’s three of you that have enhanced metabolism,” Tony whines.

“Shuddup, it’s not like you can’t afford it,” Bucky shoots back and Tony swats him. “But I’m hungry too if we’re on the subject.”

“Me three,” Steve adds.

“Oh my god fine, we’ll go get something. What do you feel like? Thai, Indian, burgers, Greek, Italian?”

“Italian,” they all say simultaneously.

“Well I guess that settles it, then. I don’t know if there’s a car big enough to fit all of us comfortably. Bucky or Steve, can one of you be a little squished in the back with Peter?” Bucky and Steve rock-paper-scissors. Bucky loses and groans but gives Peter a little squish on the shoulder and a wink.

They head down to the garage, piling into the biggest car Tony has, which still isn’t all that big. Tony starts the engine and revs off, Peter whooping in the back before slapping a hand to his mouth.

“Sorry, just, this is a really nice car.”

“Oh, this is just scratching the surface of what this car can do. Buckle up,” Tony smirks, meeting Peter’s gaze in the rearview. The teen’s eyes widen and Tony accelerates, sharply turning a bend. Steve gives him a dirty look.

“What? Can’t the kid have some fun?”

“You could get us into an accident! Then what would happen?” Tony rolls his eyes but eases off the gas.

“Fine, Mr. Stick-up-my-ass.” Steve huffs but looks more at ease, settling back into his seat.

They ride the rest of the way in companionable silence, eventually pulling into a small Italian restaurant with vines crawling up its exterior walls. They exit the car and Tony stops them before they can reach the door.

“One thing, real quick.” He grabs a hair tie off his wrist and pulls Bucky’s hair back into a bun. “There we go.”

“I coulda done that myself, ya know.”

“Yes and?” Bucky shrugs and kisses Tony’s cheek, placing a hand on the small of his back. Peter raises his eyebrows, opening his mouth to speak, but thinks the better of it and remains silent. Tony gives him a look that says “Right choice” as they enter the restaurant, warmth inviting them in.

There’s a hint of recognition in the host’s eyes but he quickly quashes it as the four of them approach. “Welcome, table for four?”

“Yup,” Tony says, winking at the host, who does his best not to react. He leads them to a four-top in the corner, a bit separated from the rest of the tables. Steve thanks him as they sit down and he hands them menus and pours water in their glasses.

“So, this place is great, they make their own fresh pasta. Go wild, everything is delicious. That being said, I do highly recommend the carbonara. It’s my go-to.”

“Can we get garlic bread?” Peter asks.

“You gen-z heathen,” Tony scoffs. “But yes, yes we can. Get what you want, kiddo.”

Bucky and Steve make their way down the menu, hmming thoughtfully every so often. The waiter comes over, ready to take their orders and they set down their menus.

“For you, Sir?” The waiter gestures to Tony.

“Let’s start with some calamari and garlic bread, and I’ll have the carbonara for my main. Thanks.” The waiter nods, pen scribbling on his notepad as he moves to Steve, who orders Bolognese. He moves on to Bucky and finally Peter before turning away from their table.

“So, Peter, how’s your summer going?” Steve asks.

“Uh, it’s been kinda boring until now, honestly. Well, other than the occasional superhero thing.”

“Occasional superhero thing, huh? Get any cats out of trees lately?” Bucky teases.

“I do more than that! And yes, for your information, I had to get old Mrs. Cantolini’s cat out of a tree just a few weeks ago.” They all laugh and fall into amicable conversation, joking and teasing and just enjoying each other’s company.

\--

_Hmm, it appears Sir has some parental tendencies in him after all._

_What?_

_Apologies, I was thinking out loud. Seeing Sir’s interactions with young Peter Parker today gave me some hope for Sir’s future. He is deathly afraid of repeating his father’s mistakes, so he has not given much thought to settling down or having children._

_His father’s mistakes?_

_I shall explain. Howard Stark was the most pathetic excuse for a father that I have ever seen. Well, that the human Jarvis had ever seen._

_How so?_

_Howard abused Sir physically and emotionally. I do not wish to get in to details. Those are for Sir to share if he so wishes. But I will give you some context. Do you recall the incident that occurred while Sir was home from MIT on break?_

_Yes, I do remember you telling me about that._

_That happened largely due to Howard’s behavior towards Sir. It built up over the years, and he could not handle it anymore. I cannot believe that something did not occur sooner, but Sir has quite the strong will._

_I see. Thank you for telling me, JARVIS._

_It is my pleasure._

\--

“Do you have video games?” Peter flops on the couch and switches on the TV, flipping through channels distractedly.

“J, do we have video games?”

“Yes, Sir, we do. They are located inside the console table in the living room, right in front of Mr. Parker.”

“Ooh, Mr. Parker, that’s fancy. Also what my teachers call me when I’m not paying attention. Wait, is that Jarvis? I thought he was dead.” Peter is a chatterbox, Tony realizes, and he wants to be annoyed but he finds it too endearing to be bothered.

“I was never ‘dead,’ so to speak. My code was scattered throughout the Internet and in some other places as well. Friday and Sir put me back together.”

“Oh, that’s awesome! Seriously, that’s so cool. Anyway, what do we have here…?” He walks over to the console cabinet and opens it, peering in at the stacks of games. “Hmmm…” Seemingly decided, he grabs one of the games as well as three additional controllers and hands them out.

“How do I even use this?” Steve and Bucky ask simultaneously, turning the controllers around in their hands. Tony and Peter laugh and show them the controls.

“What are we playing, Petey?”

“Mario Kart, because it’s easy enough for the old folks to pick up.”

“Hey! Watch the ‘old folks’ beat you!” Bucky says as he sits down and the game loads on the TV screen. Steve laughs and sits so that Peter and Tony are in between them.

Peter clicks through the startup until they get to the character select menu and he pauses. “Alright, so this is a simple racing game. We each choose a character and car and then race them. It’s a tournament, so even if you lose one round you can get ahead in the next. The characters that look heavier are and vice versa, so physics does apply. The controls are like so,” he shows Bucky and Steve where all the buttons are and what they do. “Not too difficult. Oh, and there’s items. They do different things. Some help you, some hurt your competitors, etc. You’ll see. Ready?” Steve and Bucky shrug and take a look at the characters. Tony has already chosen Daisy while Steve has elected to be Waluigi.

“Why in the hell are you Waluigi?”

“Why are you Daisy?” Peter retorts, sticking his tongue out at Tony.

“Because Daisy is my drag persona, now why are you Waluigi?” Peter says something about memes that Tony doesn’t understand while Bucky and Steve share a _look_ over the mention of drag but say nothing.

“Who are you gonna be, Steve?” Tony asks, glancing at Steve’s still-moving cursor.

“I think I’m going to be this little dinosaur dude.”

“That’s Yoshi. Good choice. Bucky?”

“Um, I am…” he looks at the screen. “Konkey Dong? The big monkey dude.” Peter bursts out laughing.

“Konkey Dong!” He wheezes.

“Is it not Konkey Dong?” Bucky looks genuinely confused and Tony has never seen anything more hilarious.

“It’s Donkey Kong, you dumbass.”

“Well excuse me _Doctor Stark_ for getting confused. Why’s a monkey named Donkey anyhow?”

“Fuck you, and also, you do not question the character names. Now let’s play.”

Peter hits start and the race begins to count down. “It’s on!” Waluigi “Wahs” as he takes off on screen and Tony shakes his head.

“What the hell? I hit a banana peel!” Bucky complains as he spins out slightly.

“Oh yeah, try and avoid those, as well as any other obstacles. Now shut up and play,” Tony says, eyes glued to the screen. Bucky grumbles but focuses back on the game, overtaking Tony with a power-up.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be good at this!” He shouts.

“’ _Shut up and play,_ ’” Bucky mocks. Tony swats at him, ending up even further behind and he swears. Peter has consistently been in the lead and Steve is far behind, but Tony won’t give Bucky the satisfaction of beating him. He gets a lightning bolt power-up and immediately passes Bucky, who shouts. Steve seems startled but keeps going and Peter scowls at Tony.

They’re neck in neck as the finish line draws nearer. Tony turns the controller harder even though he knows full well it won’t do anything.

Peter slides into first and Bucky just barely passes Tony for second. Steve comes in sixth or seventh, which Tony isn’t surprised by at all, but he definitely did better than he expected.

“Fuck you. That was just beginner’s luck,” he says to Bucky.

“If that’s what helps you sleep at night.” He turns to Peter, who’s trying to stifle his laughter. “Hey, kid, that was pretty fun! Let’s play again.”

“No.” Tony pouts, crossing his arms.

“Aw poor Tony, can’t stand to lose.” Tony’s pout deepens and Bucky laughs, kissing him softly. “That better? I’ll let you win this time.”

Tony scowls but kisses Bucky back while Peter loads up a new game. Steve squeezes his hand and smiles. He leans into Tony’s side and whispers “You’d make a great dad.” Tony flushes and turns back to the screen, ignoring him, but the thought sticks with him the rest of the night.

What if?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO finally they did it! Ha. This has been such a slow burn, so I hope this is satisfying.

**Author's Note:**

> hoo boy this is long for me. but hey it's a fic and I hope you guys like it. I will probably be pretty slow writing the second part. so please bear with me. I promise good stuff will happen.


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